Kiseki
by Pile of Manga
Summary: Akai Kiseki has just transferred to Domino High and posesses the most powerful card in Duel Monsters. Word spreads and Seto picks up on it, and when she refuses to give it up to him, he resorts to drastic measures... and it builds to obsession...
1. Moving In

Well, this is my second ficcy, and personally I'm really liking how it's turning out so far. Hope you all like it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Kiseki sighed quietly to herself and stared out the window of the car, though it was difficult to see anything, for it was raining a flood outside. She focused slightly on her reflection in the window, her face in constant motion from the streams of water flowing over its surface. Her light blue eyes were sad-looking as they usually were, her short blue hair parted on one side and held mostly back by a small white headband, her bangs left out of the bunch to frame her face. Her hands were placed delicately in her lap, which was covered by a knee-length blue skirt; on her torso she wore a plain white blouse with a dark blue tie about her neck, underneath the collar. Her feet were covered by sneakers, her legs above them left exposed; she had expected it to be warm and sunny when she and her family arrived in Japan. A slight trace of colour was in her skin, though she still looked rather pale as she blinked and refocused her eyes to the distorted street beyond.

As the car came to a halt at a red light, she had time to glance through the glass around the one spot upon which she had all her attention. In the dim lighting of the night, she could barely make out some stores, all darkened as it was far past their open hours, and more towards the corner of the streets she saw one that was also closed, but had a big bright sign still illuminated above the front door. For some reason, it interested her, so she leaned forward slightly and squinted her eyes to try and make out what it said through the rain. _Tu..Turbie...Turbie Game Shop... hmm, odd title, maybe I should go visit there sometime,_ she thought to herself. She remembered its approximate shape and colour and decided to keep track of all the turns that her family's little car made after that.

"God damn light," her father was saying. "There's no one coming through on the other street and the stupid thing won't turn green! Come ON!" He hit the steering wheel with his fist and leaned forward to bare his teeth at the bright red light, but all it did was twinkle innocently back at him through the downpour, and he sat back with an extremely heavy sigh. His cold, grey eyes remained narrowed as he stared through the front of the car and the fast-pumping windshield wipers, his black hair aiding in the colour-less appearance of his straight, stiff face.

Kiseki's mother was sitting in the passenger side of the car and had her head tilted to one side, cheek resting upon the tips of her fingers, her long, red hair cascading onto her hand and down her back. "Yelling won't help, Korosu," she sighed, much in the same way he just had done. "Sometimes I wonder why I married a man who thinks that he can manipulate inanimate objects like mindless children..."

He turned his head to her and glared, but did not say anything. Kiseki glanced at the both of them before turning to stare outside again. _I was hoping they wouldn't fight as much here..._she thought to herself. Thankfully, before her father could come up with something to say in response, the light turned green and his attention was turned back to driving. He was, after all, a very cautious driver. The girl now had something to distract her from the disappointment in her parents and started remembering the turns that the car made from the game shop. _Left....go for a while.... another left at the restaurant with the peaks... right at the little park..... _Her photographic memory remembered every detail and thankfully it didn't need to remember much, for the house was only about 5 minutes away from the little store. Or, as Kiseki learned when they arrived, the apartment. The car stopped and as Korosu took the keys out of the ignition, he squinted disapprovingly through his window at the rain before turning back to Kiseki.

"Hey sweetie, could you hand me my overnight bag? I think that's all we'll be able to carry in through this mess." Kiseki obediently moved a few suitcases out of the way to pick up a small black duffle bag, concurrently pulling out her mother's and her own. She handed her father his bag and pushed up the small red tote bag to her mother before lifting the strap of her navy blue bag over head to let it rest across her opposite shoulder. Her father flipped through his key ring and got the key to their new home at the ready, then putting his hand on the handle of their SUV. "All right ladies, let's go!" And with that, they all opened their doors and quickly shut them, bolting for the apartment building, slipping and squeaking occasionally as large drops of water hit their heads from the overhanging trees. They actually started laughing together as they watched the others getting soaked, and Kiseki and her mother went into hysterics when Korosu turned to look at them and ran into a low-hanging gutter, immediately causing several gallons of rain water to come splashing down upon him. They could barely make the rest of the way to the door without falling over from laughter, clutching at their sides. They were sure to quiet their mirth into a fit of giggles as they got inside and made their way down the hallway of the building since it was so late at night, but lost control in the elevator to the second floor, and laughed loudly until they opened the door of their new home.

As it swung open, they almost instantaneously went quiet. It was tiny. Very tiny. Kiseki was the only one of the three that went inside and looked around; her parents were too busy staring in shock in the doorway. She carefully set down her bag next to the futon in the living room to take a quick look at the small kitchen, then moving to slide open the frame of paper on the other end of the living room to reveal the narrow hallway with three doors leading off from it. Carefully sliding it back into place, she turned back to her parents, who were steadily changing their looks from ones of shock to ones of anger.

"You said this was a two-bedroom, Korosu," whispered her mother dangerously, narrowing her green eyes.

"It is," he growled back. "The bastards didn't tell me it was this damn small, Takai."

Takai rolled her eyes at her husband. "Well most people actually look at the square footage before they go to live somewhere!"

"Well this is where we're staying as long as we need to before we go back to the US, and there's nothing you or I can do about it!" he shouted, walking in and throwing his bag to the floor.

"I like it," piped up Kiseki quietly.

"Be quiet, Kiseki!" roared both of her parents at once before they commenced their arguing. She closed her eyes and turned back to the living room and saw another door. Upon opening it, she realised it led to a small porch and quickly slid the door shut behind her, which did almost nothing to quiet her parent's shouts, but as she went to the edge of the porch, the rain pit-pattering against the wall of the building and its gutters drowned out their voices somewhat. She sighed, frustrated only slightly at how childish her parents were sometimes.

The view from here was spectacular; she could see down the street on which they lived for at least 5 blocks in either direction, and she recognised the small park that they had passed on their way from the game shop. She vowed that she would go there the following morning since it was only Saturday, for she felt like enjoying her last bit of freedom before she was pushed into the high school of the town. She heard her parents give one last shout at each other before the sound of two doors slamming shut reached her ears. Sighing, she realised this must mean that she'd be sleeping out on the couch tonight. Because she didn't feel tired enough, she stood out on the balcony for nearly a half hour, just looking out at the rain and the little shops and tall buildings of her new home town. One in particular caught her eye: it stood tall and prominent over everything and a large, brightly illuminated KC was near the top of it. She noticed that it looked to be only about 20 blocks from her house, and decided she might go to visit it in her tour of the city the next day. Other than the two large letters, it was completely darkened, though near the top, one sole office window was lit. Kiseki smiled to herself, thinking that whoever was working this late would be her motivation on nights like these, when she'd probably stay up and paint outside. Turning back to her apartment, she knew that the porch would be her place of sanctity and that she'd try to get some of her furniture from her bedroom into it to make it her own. She looked back at the KC building one last time, smiling a great deal to the unknown person still working diligently near the top, before sliding the porch door closed and unfolding the futon in the living room. Collapsing onto it, she silently thought that she might quite possibly be the only American to love the smallness of the Japanese housing before falling asleep.

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:clears throat and rearranges a random stack of paper: And thus concludes the introduction to Kiseki. As a little random note to all of you: in Japanese Kiseki means "miracle", Korosu means "to kill", and Takai means "death". let me know what you all think so far! Ja' ne!

Edie


	2. A Legend Uncovered

Ok, I finally finished this chapter! I'll try really hard to update every week, but I'm not promising too much :p. Enjoy!

The next morning, Kiseki rose up when the sky was a bright grey, the sun lighting up the carpet of clouds still there after the downpour, the loud chirping of birds incessant and overriding the sounds of the few cars on the road. She lifted up her wrist to squint at her watch and saw that it was only about 8:30 in the morning, but she got up anyway. Quietly sliding open the door to the hallway of the apartment, she saw that one of the bedrooms was open and empty, meaning one of her parents had gotten up in the middle of the night to join the other with an apology. She only wondered for a moment as to who had decided to sacrifice their dignity before going into the bathroom to survey herself. Her hair wasn't too bad, though it took her a few minutes to dislodge her headband from the mess and comb her hair back into its natural state. Once the headband was securely back in place, she lightly smacked her lips and practically grimaced at the awful taste in her mouth. Immediately she rummaged in her overnight bag for her toothbrush and toothpaste and shoved it into her mouth and started fervently scrubbing her tongue to rid herself of the morning flavour.

Once her tongue had been thoroughly cleaned, she calmly went to her teeth and spent a few minutes brushing them before rinsing out her mouth and drying her lips off with a hand towel from her bag. _Teaches me not to go to bed without brushing my teeth,_ she thought, making a weird face in the mirror.

Thinking that her clothes weren't in too bad a shape from sleeping in them to wear again, she merely flattened out her ruffled skirt a little bit and retied her blue tie about her neck. She stepped outside on the porch, inhaling the morning air. This was the why she loved the rain so much; it made the earth smell sweet and wonderful. A light mist was obscuring the trees of the park, brightening her mood even more, for that was one of her favourite types of weather. Once again letting her eyes roam she saw the KC building, magnificently standing out against the wall of bland colour. She sighed, gazing at it for a few moments before returning inside, deciding that it would be a good idea to bring a sweater for the morning. She reached into her bag and pulled out a dark blue hoodie and pulled it on, ruffling her hair with some static electricity. Smoothing her hair down, she quickly wrote a note to her parents telling them that she'd be back by noon, grabbed her purse, and headed out with her copy of the house key.

Kiseki practically skipped along the street towards the park, something that caused her to slip a little bit on the wet pavement; she stopped and straightened up, looking around to see that no one had seen her. When she heard no sounds of laughter, she started walking normally, occasionally lightly kicking at the puddles. When she reached the park, she reversed the directions she had in her head to find her way back to the shop, so she made a left. Everything looked extremely colourful compared to what she had memorised in the darkness of the night before, though most of the stores were still closed because of how early it was. After about ten minutes of walking she saw the little shop on the corner and smiled at it, nearly running from her excitement at finding her first recognised point in the city.

When she came to a skidding halt at the door, she looked happily up at it and espied the sign at the top, still brightly lit but now from the cloud light from the sky. It was then that she realised that it wasn't called the Turbie Game shop, but the _Turtle _Game Shop. Laughing at her ability to read signs in the pouring rain, she shifted her gaze back onto the door of the store and noticed with disappointment that it wasn't open yet either. It took her a few moments before she could find the paper with the posted open hours, but when she did, she discovered that it opened regularly at 9 on Sundays; she looked back at her watch and saw that it was 8:50. "Close enough," she murmured to herself before rapping on the door.

Almost instantaneously she heard someone yelp and then some pounding footsteps as whoever it was came bolting down the stairs. She jumped slightly as a loud _thump_ reached her ears and the person grunted before scurrying to the door and unlocking it. As the door swung open, it took her a moment before she realised that the person was extremely short and she had to look down to actually see him, especially since he was bent over and wheezing for breath.

"Wel-welcome to—" he coughed and straightened up and beamed a happy smile at her. "Welcome to the Turtle Game Shop, your local, friendly, dependable..." As he continued the list of adjectives, she couldn't help but smile at him. His grey hair was in complete disarray around his bright purple eyes and he was still in his pajamas, which were a light green with dark green stripes running along them. _What an adorable little old man, _she thought, as he finished talking and stood aside to let her in. "So sorry about the delay, my dear, I overslept today! Please come in!"

"Thank you," she said, grateful that she had studied Japanese in America before she had arrived.

"Not at all, not at all!" said the old man, ushering her inside and shutting the door, the little bells attached to the top of the door ringing merrily. "Oh and where are my manners? My name is Mr. Motou," he said, holding his hand out to her. "But most people around here call me Grandpa, so don't bother with the formal one." She took his hand and shook it, returning the bright smile he had had plastered on his face ever since she had set foot in his store.

"My name is Akai Kiseki," she said also giving him a small bow once he had released her hand.

"Well Kiseki-chan, feel free to explore the store while I get ready to actually receive customers! I'll send my grandson down to help while I'm getting changed," he said jovially, turning to bound up the stairs.

As soon as he was out of sight, the smile disappeared on Kiseki's face. _Another child? I hope he doesn't try to talk to me too much..... _She busied herself with walking around the various stands and picking up a few magazines, flipping idly through their pages. A few minutes later, a very short boy with tri-coloured hair came walking down the stairs. She glanced up at him for a moment before looking back into the magazine at an article on a new Egyptian exhibit going on downtown.

"Hi there!" said the boy happily once he had come down. He had bright purple eyes like his grandfather's, and was wearing a sleeveless black shirt with blue pants. Though his odd combination of gold, black, and reddish-purple hair was something she had never seen before, the thing about his neck was far more interesting to her. A bright golden pyramid-shaped puzzle was slung about his neck by a thin brown cord, and glinted at her as he came forward eagerly. "Can I help you with anything?"

Keeping her eyes fixed upon the page, she shook her head slightly, not responding to him.

An awkward hush fell about them when she did not speak, and it remained for a while as he stood and watched her. He was a little taken aback by her, though what amazed him more was that she did not even bother to speak to him to tell him that she was just browsing or.....anything. He tried again. "Are you new in town? I don't think I've seen you anywhere before."

Again keeping her mouth shut, she nodded, turning a page in the magazine to gaze at the pictures of some artifacts in the exhibit.

"Well then, I guess you'll be going to my school! I'm Yugi, by the way," he said happily, extending his hand to her. She did not take it. He was getting a little flustered, but he kept trying. "What's your name?"

With a slight hint of a sigh, she placed the magazine back in its place, having recorded in her mind where the museum was, planning to go and visit it later. "Akai Kiseki," she replied.

Yugi smiled, happy that he made some progress and decided to try to talk about something that would interest her. "It's very nice to meet you, Kiseki. Do you like stuff from ancient Egypt?"

"Yes." She hardly felt like speaking to someone her age, but he kept nagging her and didn't look like he was going to let up, so she decided to try to speak to make him leave her alone.

Good, I'm getting her to talk, thought Yugi happily. "Well have you ever heard of a game called Duel Monsters?" he asked, moving over to the counter and drawing out a number of packs, showing them to her.

She tried to make herself appear interested and put her hands behind her back, having to lean over to see them. "I have not."

"Legend has it that this game originated in ancient Egypt; nowadays it's only played for fun and tournaments, but back then it was for the fate of the world and its people," he said dramatically.

As much as she hated to admit it, the small one had caught her attention. "Really?" she asked.

"Yep! Want to have a pack?" he asked, holding one out to her.

She nodded and started taking out her purse, but he shook his head. "You don't have to pay; this one's on me, ok?"

Drawing out her purse, she shook her head. "I do not take anything for free," she said. "How much is it?"

He closed his mouth, again surprised at the girl. "450 yen," he muttered after a moment.

Carefully counting out the amount from her purse, she handed him the money and delicately took a pack out of the few he had in his hands, putting that into her purse as well.

"Don't you want to see what cards you got?" he asked, moving behind the register to start putting the money into it.

"I will look at them when I go home," she said, now settling back into the feeling that she wanted him to stop talking.

"Ah come on, I love seeing people's beginning cards. I can tell you what they are and explain the game to you if you want," he pressed.

Pausing, she looked back at him and saw how eager his face looked; it was so full of expectation that she just wanted to smack it off him. She instead drew out the pack again, knowing that he would leave her alone once he found out whatever she had gotten. "If I want any information, I will ask you for it; otherwise I would like it if you just saw the cards and then let me leave."

Yugi nodded, wanting to keep up the impression that he made on everyone: that he respected what people wanted. She calmly walked over to the counter and leaned back on it, tearing open the top of the package and sliding the cards out. Pulling out the small stack, she flipped though them, pausing every now and then on a card, though none really caught her interest. She was on the verge of just leaving them on the counter, for none of them looked like they had come from ancient Egypt, when one came in front of her eyes and made her pause to stare at it in wonder.

It was a dragon, a beautiful one, yet fierce-looking at the same time. Its wings were spread magnificently behind it and its sleek body stood out against the holographic background of the card. The top of the card read "Kodoku Doragon". _Dragon of Loneliness.... _Not caring about the other cards, she put this one on top of the stack and then slipped it into the package again, then putting it back in her bag. She started on her way out, intending to go home and paint the magnificent beast on a canvas that she had been saving for something very important.

As she left, Yugi remained frozen where he was, for he had also seen the card, and it had shocked him. The bells at the top of the door jingled once more as the door swung shut behind her, and they rang into nothingness as a stunned silence settled upon the empty shop, the young boy perched at the edge of the counter with his mouth slightly open and his eyes wide, for he had just seen a legend.

Bum bum bum! Ok, so I have a picture of Kiseki drawn out, unfortunately, I still do not know why has such a problem with me posting a web address in here, so email me if you would like to see it.

I also am working on a picture of the Kodoku Doragon, which will take more time, as I am planning to take the sketch I have and colour it, hopefully making it look somewhat like a card using a photo shop thingy on my computer.


	3. Domino High

:runs up: HuzZAH! I have kept up the legacy of one chapter per week! I'm glad to hear that you guys like meh story; I hope you all will like the rest . And Kristen.... man that name sounds so familiar and I can't—put—my---finger on it. :tries to poke the name with meh finger: Tell me where I know you from! I can't stand suspense!

On her way back to the apartment, Kiseki couldn't help but pull out the card once more to gaze at it. The holofoil upon the picture shined out rather brightly at her, making her look up to see that the sun was steadily making its way through the clouds to shine out over the city. She smiled up at it, before looking back down at the card and smiling even wider. Slipping it carefully back into its place, she inhaled the air and sped up her pace. When the apartment came into view she nearly ran up the stairs and it took her about a minute before she could insert the key into the lock with a hand shaking from excitement. Though, as she was turning it, something wiped the smile off her face and her hand paused in its furtive movement as she leaned forward to press an ear quietly against the door. Her eyes narrowed as she began to understand some of the words that were now being shouted.

"...don't know why you didn't think of that before!" her mother's voice trailed out.

"I was more concerned about us having things to live with, Takai! It's not like we can't go out for breakfast!" her father yelled back.

A loud thump reached her ear, meaning someone had just slammed their hands down upon a surface in anger. "I wanted to make an elaborate breakfast for our first morning in Domino, Korosu," said her mother, her voice shaking slightly. "What kind of a memory will we have if we decide to go to some run-down old pancake house on our first day in this Godforsaken country?"

Kiseki closed her eyes in frustration and turned the key the rest of the way and opened up the door as her father was in the middle of his retaliation. "It will be an elegant restaurant if that'll make you—" He cut off at seeing Kiseki and immediately straightened up, his usually pale face slightly flushed. "Ah, you're back! How was your walk, sweetie?"

"Fine," sighed Kiseki, keeping a tight hold on her purse rather than dropping it to the floor as she usually did. She glanced at the both of them. "You know, it's still only about 9:20, I'm sure I can just walk to the grocery store about 3 blocks away and get what ever you need, mom."

Her parents looked at each other with looks that suggested they felt rather stupid when she made the remark. Takai looked back at her. "Oh it's fine, honey, we'll go out and get it. You can stay here and enjoy your morning, though do you think you could show us where it is?"

Kiseki nodded and walked past the living room futon upon which she had slept (still unfolded and not made), continuing through the sliding door and out onto the balcony. She leaned over the edge, squinting down the street, and then pointed to a little red shop when her mother came up behind her.

"Ah, good, that's not too far," Takai said, before taking a look around at the view from the little porch. "Wow, this is amazing, Kiseki; you can see everything!"

She turned to Takai. "Actually I was hoping that I could make this part of my room or something, mom," she said, smiling and clasping her hands in front of her. "You know, just so that when I paint I don't get messes all over the carpet like I did in the last house."

Her mother laughed. "Of course, sweetie, but the only thing I ask is that you take good care of it so that when we come out every now and then to look outside, we won't need to fight to get to the edge."

The girl agreed before Takai gave her a kiss on the cheek and walked back inside the apartment to get ready. Kiseki sighed happily, turning to once again lean over the edge of the railing, gazing at the KC building, which now shined brightly with the sunlight upon its surface.

Her parents returned a little later and her mother made the grandest breakfast Kiseki had ever seen in her entire life. Even though she felt full about halfway through, she kept eating and eating until her plate of delicious food was clean. Sitting back with a satisfied grunt, she patted her stomach and closed her eyes, savouring the last morsel in her mouth as did her parents.

"That was wonderful, Takai," said her father with a stifled belch. "Some of the best cooking I've ever tasted."

"Glad you enjoyed it, Korosu-kun," replied her mother, leaning forward to kiss him on the cheek before standing up to take some dishes to the sink. Kiseki smiled and stood up as well with her plate, draining the last of her orange juice, giving another sigh when she felt the cool liquid washing down. After cleaning her plate, she realised how tired the food was making her feel and she laid down again on her futon, intending to take a short nap. She was asleep within minutes.

-----------------------------

With a grunt, Kiseki raised her head from the pillow, a little bit of drool trailing from it to the corner of her mouth. Hastily wiping it off, she glanced around and had to squint, for it was extremely dark. Pressing a little light on her watch, it read 10:45. Groaning, she rubbed a hand over her face and propped herself up on her elbows. _Just great,_ she thought. _The last day when I'd be worry free and I slept it off... all well, I might as well fall asleep and hope for the best tomorrow._

She got up, stretching, and walked to the bathroom to brush her teeth, pulling out a white spaghetti strap shirt and some light blue pajama bottoms in which to sleep. After she got changed, she walked back into the living room and decided to go out on the porch again for a little while.

As she stepped outside, the cool night air woke her up rather fast and she nearly gasped in the sudden rush of energy it gave her. She was so overwhelmed that it took her a few moments to realise that her art supplies were out there as well. A large easel stood near the railing, her little table covered in paint blots standing to the left of it. Her parents had even gone as far as to set up her wickerwork "couch", which was simply a sort of half sphere with a large, fluffy padding on it, in front of the easel. She smiled widely and went back inside to grab her purse and gently pull out the card from its pack, taking it back out and sitting cross-legged in her couch. For once, she actually stared at something other than the picture of the dragon and started trying to read the words and numbers toward the bottom of it. She could tell what the numbers were, but only a few of the Japanese characters were ones that she knew.

_2600 attack.... 2300 defence.... She squinted at the bottom, as though that would help her to understand the unfamiliar words, but she could still only read about a third of them. Magic... add 300... graveyard... no defence... trap card..._ She gave up and set it down upon the little shelf at the bottom of her easel and sat back, angry with herself for not learning to read in the language as she studied. Of course, she knew how to speak fluently, she had just studied the language in Romaji, meaning she could only recognise most words if they were written with English letters. She glared a little bit at the tiny card and sighed, her eyes going above her easel to stare at the moon, for the clouds had cleared up by now. Though, she quickly noticed that her easel was in the way of her inspiration. As she rearranged it, the KC building loomed out, the sole window near the top alight once more. Kiseki sighed again and stared at it, coming to realise with a laugh that she would be painting it at some point; she sat still for nearly a half hour before going inside to fall asleep again. She had barely closed her eyes, it seemed, before she was rudely awakened.

_BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!_

"Yah!" Kiseki jumped up and swung her fist out, knocking the obnoxious alarm clock to the floor; its loud noise died out when it hit the floor with a loud clunk. It took a few moments for Kiseki to realise what had just happened, her fist still out slightly as she sat, waiting for her breathing to calm down. She blinked and unclenched her hand, sighing and closing her eyes, her shoulders slumping forward as her body relaxed.

_Man... they had to set that thing up, too,_ she sighed to herself as she glanced at her watch. It was 7:25, meaning she had about an hour to get to Domino High. Deciding it would be best to show up early, she got up and opened up a suitcase now next to her bed, yanking out another blue skirt and a light blue t-shirt from her messy packing job. Walking into the bathroom, she got changed, yawning slightly as she then turned to brush her teeth. Taking out a comb, she carefully tidied up her hair, sliding her headband into place. When she thought she was all ready to go, she lightly emptied her bag and slung it over her shoulder, then reaching into her suitcase to pull out the papers she'd need for school.

She knew the map to the school by heart and started walking down the street at a brisk pace, knowing that it was nearly 15 blocks away. The sun was coming up and by the time she had reached the school, it was fully risen, making the school's tan colour appear very bright. Upon approaching the building, she saw a limo driving away from it, a very tall person, clad in blue, walking towards the entrance, a big silver briefcase clasped in his left hand. He pulled open the doors and walked inside importantly, the sunlight glinting off his briefcase for a moment before deciding to jump to glare off of the glass door swinging shut behind him.

Kiseki continued forward after glancing at her watch and affirming that it was only about 8, wondering slightly why the person was there so early. Pulling open the door, she realised that she had no idea where the main office was, since there was more than one building in which it could be. She stopped inside the doorway and clutched her bag a little closer to herself, looking down the hallway; her breath caught somewhat in her throat as she saw the tall boy now at his locker, pulling out several books and opening up his briefcase to put them in it. The door shut rather quickly behind her, making her squeak slightly as the wind from it ruffled her skirt and hair, causing the boy to stop and look at her. He stood up with a quiet chuckle and shut his locker with a clang before coming over, stopping in front of her. She actually had to look up at him, and almost flinched at how deep and blue his eyes were as he stared down at her.

"The office to sign in is over there, kohai," he said in a deep voice, pointing down a hallway to her left.

She blinked and nodded, turning to walk somewhat hurriedly down the hallway, his snickers following her. Once she reached it, she glanced back down the hallway, and once she saw that he wasn't there anymore, she turned to the person sitting at the office desk and placed her papers in front of the wizened old woman. She picked them up and squinted at them before walking back to a closet and pulling out a pile of folded clothing and handing it to Kiseki.

"School uniform," she replied gruffly, flipping through her papers and entering her information into the computer. It bleeped at her and she turned back to Kiseki, readjusting her glasses to squint at the girl. "Ah, so _you're_ our new student from the United States?"

Kiseki nodded in affirmation, and the old woman pulled out a sheet that her printer had just spit out, handing it to her. "Your schedule and locker. Any questions?"

She blinked as she was handed the paper and stared down at it, narrowing her eyes slightly when she saw only two classrooms on it. "...Why do I only have two classrooms?" she asked.

"Ah yes, I forgot in America they have their school systems flipped upside down," said the woman, shaking her head. "Here, we figured it's a lot easier for the teachers to switch classrooms rather than the students; the only reason you have two is because your science class requires a specialised facility in which to work. And you shouldn't be too far behind in any of the classes, since it's May and classes started last month. Say..." She peered at Kiseki's papers. "You're almost 16! Happy birthday!"

Kiseki nodded, smiling. "Though, I'd prefer it if you kept it quiet," she said. "I don't care for big social events in which I am the centre of attention."

"All right, then," said the woman, winking at her. "It'll be our little secret. Do you have anything else you need to ask before I send you off?"

Kiseki bit her lip as the student popped back into her head. "What's a—" She struggled to regain a hold on what he had called her. "A kohai?"

"Ah, that's the name we give to underclassmen here. Senpai is what we call upperclassmen, which is what you will become as soon as you turn 16, then people won't be able to pick on you as easily," she replied with a laugh.

The girl nodded and bowed before turning around confidently and striding out, clutching the uniform to herself. When she reached a crossroad in the hallway, she halted, biting her lip. "Locker rooms are down that hallway and to the left, sweetie!" called the woman, pointing her down one.

"Thank you!" Kiseki walked towards it and once she was inside, began to undress, putting her outfit into the bag and starting to put on the uniform. After it was on, she surveyed herself in the mirror with an eyebrow raised.

"A pink blazer... who'd want that as a part of it?" she said unhappily to her reflection, making a face at it. "And knee-high socks?" She glared down at her shins before looking at the mirror again, deciding that it wouldn't be too bad, since the uniform also had a blue bow in the front of the jacket and a blue skirt. It looked a little short, so Kiseki tried to scoot it down slightly, which caused it to slip down to her feet. Growling, she pulled it back up. "If anyone tries to look up my skirt, they're getting smacked..." she muttered. At that moment, the first sounds of school starting up reached her ears. As voices began swarming past the door of the locker room, Kiseki surveyed herself one last time before sighing.

"Here we go..." She picked up her book bag and pushed open the door.

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Now don't get too mad, the Seto-Kiseki interactions will start soon! Arigato for all of your guys' reviews!


	4. Mingling

Tah dah! Onto chapter 4! Seto creepyness starts towards the end, so WATCH OUT! Bwahaha.

Oh, and as a side note: I use the Japanese names in my story so for those of you who don't know them:

Katsuya Jonouchi=Joey Wheeler

Katsuya Shizuka= Serenity Wheeler

Mazaki Anzu= Tea Gardner

Hiroto Honda= Tristan Taylor

and Seto Kaiba and Ryou Bakura just switch around to be said as Kaiba Seto and Bakura Ryou (last names are said first in Japan; last names are used when people are being formal with each other or when they're speaking to someone older than them and first names are used when the two people are familiar)

WHAM.

The door smacked into someone in the flow of oncoming students; Kiseki jumped and peered around it as hordes of people burst out laughing at the blonde now on the floor, cursing and holding his head. Another boy with a rather odd hairstyle seemed to be laughing the most, standing right beside the fallen one, clutching at his sides and practically crying with mirth. Both were clad in the blue school uniform that Kiseki had seen on the other teenager that morning, except their tops were not buttoned up as his had been, and were left to freely hang open, revealing white t-shirts underneath the jackets.

Taunts of "Baka Jonouchi!" started mixing with the loud laughing in the hallway, and the boy growled and got to his feet, punching his friend in the shoulder and then making shoo-like movements at the students, some of which left, but most stayed behind to watch him as he turned angrily to Kiseki.

"Why don't you watch where you're opening up doors, eh?" he yelled.

Kiseki merely blinked at him and quietly muttered a "sorry" before walking past him, intending to find her first class and meet her teacher before the bell rung. The crowd of students started murmuring as they parted somewhat to let her pass, then resumed their swarming.

"Yeah that's right! Walk away!" he shouted after her, shaking a fist. He then sighed, turning to his friend, who still had a large grin plastered on his face. "Man, I hate kohais..." he muttered.

"Well you weren't exactly watching where you were going, either, Jonouchi," the other boy laughed, running a hand over his own brown hair, which came to a point at the front.

"Shut up, Honda, you want some of this?" said Jonouchi, shaking his fist once again. Honda merely laughed again. The blonde shook his head. "Sometimes you're too stupid to know what's going to come to you sooner or later..."

"Oh, so I'm the stupid one now? If you're so tough, then why don't you follow the kohai and beat her up for smacking your poor little head with the door?" he asked in a somewhat babyish voice, ruffling his friend's messy hair.

"Knock it off!" yelled Jonouchi, smacking the hand away.

Their shouts were heard all the way down the hallway, but Kiseki paid no attention to them as she took out her schedule and glanced at the room number, then starting to look at the numbers along the doorways in the hall. After only about a minute, she saw the number that matched and opened up the door.

It was regular enough: a chalkboard stood at the front of the room, the desks in five neat rows facing it, though some were turned at odd angles with people sitting on them and talking to friends, and there were windows lining the opposite wall. The teacher was not there yet, it seemed, so she looked around at the desks for a place to sit. As her eyes scanned the people already there, she stopped as she saw the tall boy with the blue eyes again, though he wasn't busy chit-chatting as everyone else was; he had opened up his briefcase once more and now had a sleek black laptop on his desk, and was busy typing away, his brown hair hanging slightly over his eyes. No one was paying attention to him, he wasn't paying attention to anyone else. It was like he was in his own little world. Kiseki liked that.

It seemed that the only seat that she would be comfortable with was at the very front of the class in front of the teacher's desk. Setting her bag to the left of it, she sat down in the chair and took out some scratch paper and a pencil, starting to doodle a little bit with her head resting on her hand. A small dragon began to emerge out of the light pencil strokes, and she was close to being happy with the result when some loud giggles made the drawing utensil pause in its task.

A pack of girls had appeared at the doorway of the classroom, all busily yapping to one another. "There she is!" squealed one, pointing at Kiseki, and they all came over and pushed the bookbags off the surrounding desks and pulled them up next to hers. Kiseki, pencil still poised upon the paper, looked around at them all, causing them to look at one another and burst out laughing again. By this time the rest of the class's attention had been caught, the girls were so loud, the only other noise being the typing of the boy's laptop, which had not ceased once since she had arrived. Finally controlling themselves, the apparent leader of the pack leaned forward eagerly toward the sketching girl, her dark red locks hanging over her bright, green eyes. Kiseki leaned back slightly; she hated it when people got too close to her.

"You sure did the door hit thingy really well, kohai, how'd you do it?" she asked, her high-pitched voice ringing cheerfully out; to Kiseki it sounded like a sick bird trying to make a noise.

"I opened it up," she said simply.

The girls ruptured into laughs again; it was quite getting on Kiseki's nerves by now, and even the serious teen on his laptop had stopped in his typing to glare at them. They took no notice and kept badgering her, however. "Well, seriously, that was perfect!" squealed another with blonde pigtails and blue eyes; freckles dotted her face. "I mean, all of us had made fun of Katsuya more than once, but you smacked him with a door! You'll make a great addition to our group!"

As they all agreed fervently with her, Kiseki leaned back down to start drawing again. "I don't want to be an addition because of an accident." _I'd rather not be an addition for any reason,_ she thought bitterly to herself.

The laughing ceased rather quickly, though the leader still kept a fake smile pinned up. She reached forward and pulled the paper out from underneath Kiseki's hand, causing her pencil to make a long streak across it. "Wow, you draw good too!" she reeled, holding out the paper to her friends. They all whistled in amazement, but Kiseki took the paper back and continued working on it, starting to erase the big streak across the front, something that caused the girls to drop their benevolent attitude rather quickly.

"Who do you think you are?" said one, poking her in the shoulder. "Stuck-up miss perfect?"

"I know who I am, and I know I'd rather be left alone," said Kiseki, not looking up from her drawing.

"Aww, did we hurt the poor little kohai's feelings?" cooed the leader. When Kiseki did not respond, she gritted her teeth and pounded her fist on Kiseki's desk, making her jump slightly. "You're nothing but a stupid brat who thinks you're better than everyone else just because you're new here! I'll be sure to warn everyone about how much of a jerk you were when we offered you friendship; no one will want to talk to you!"

"Thank you," said Kiseki; indeed that would have been wonderful, to have someone else keep people away from her.

The girl's fists clenched and she leaned down to hiss in Kiseki's ear. "You're just as bad as techno-freak Kaiba over there, maybe you should hook up sometime." With that, she gave one loud laugh and pulled the group away from Kiseki to their desks and sat on top of one to start flirting with a few boys in the class. Kiseki sighed gratefully and went back to drawing, hearing a slight chuckle from behind her before the typing of keys started up again. More voices sounded from the door, but they weren't nearly as obnoxious as the girls; there seemed to be only one girl in the group anyway. Kiseki kept her eyes fixed on her drawing as they came in.

Yugi and his friends made their way into the classroom, Honda retelling the story of Jonouchi's accident that morning, Anzu, and Ryou laughing heartily. As they walked by, Yugi was the only one who noticed Kiseki, and he almost stopped to say hello before his attention was directed back onto Jonouchi and Honda, who had started yelling at each other again. They all went to the back of the room and sat at their desks, Yugi being the nearest one to Kiseki, which was really about two desks back. Anzu lightly smacked the two bickering boys upside the head to make them calm down, while Ryou wiped away tears of laughter from his brown eyes. Yugi's gaze fell upon Kiseki and remained there as he remembered the last time he had seen her and the card she had gotten. His eyes went rather unfocused, making Jonouchi stop rubbing his head where Anzu had hit him to lean forward and poke Yugi in the shoulder. "Hey, you ok?"

Yugi blinked and looked over at his friend, then pointed to Kiseki's back; as soon as Jonouchi's eyes fell upon her, a small growl resonated in his throat. "That's the kohai that opened up the door... why were you staring at her?"

"Because she's the reason I've been acting a little out of focus today... I met her yesterday," said Yugi, leaning forward toward him so that she wouldn't hear them talking about her.

"Where? In the shop?" asked Jonouchi; the others had leaned in, occasionally throwing a glance at the girl.

Yugi nodded. "And I convinced her to get a pack of Duel Monsters cards... and..." he trailed off as the image of the dragon flew into his mind and wiped it clean of any rational thought.

"And...?" egged Ryou, leaning forward some more, his white hair sliding off his shoulders to fall upon his chest.

By this time a few students had stopped their conversations to eavesdrop on theirs, including the one with the laptop. Yugi shook his head. "And.... she got... I don't know what it was... but it was a card I had never seen before in my life, one of the most powerful ones at that."

At this sentence, the blue-eyed boy tensed up slightly, his fingers pausing again in their tedious work. If there was a new card about, he had to hear as much as he could about it. He strained his ears as the conversation went on. 

"Even more powerful than the God cards?" asked Honda curiously.

"As far as I could tell..." muttered Yugi.

"Well did you see any of its stats?" pressed Jonouchi.

"I saw..." Yugi swallowed and closed his eyes, trying to remember some of them. "It had... 2600 attack, 2300 defense... and at least 3 effects, maybe more. The first I saw: you can't summon any monsters in defense mode when it's on the field... and as for the others, they all had something to do with magic and trap cards, and I think something about raising its attack and defense points."

Jonouchi whistled, looking back at Kiseki. "Not bad; did you ask her to duel?"

"Well actually--" Yugi began, but at that moment, the red-haired girl stood up straight and squealed.

"Stand up!" Her voice rang out clear as a bell as the teacher came in and set his books down. Everyone in the class rose to their feet, a few rearranging their desks to face him as he went to stand behind his desk. Kiseki had paused in her drawing and hesitantly rose to her feet a couple of seconds after everyone else, for she had never done something like this before. "Bow!" commanded the prep again, and this time Kiseki did the action somewhat in unison with the class and sat down when the girl said to do so. The teacher looked up and smiled at the red-head.

"Thank you, Lokhai," he said. "You're doing very well as the new class rep." 

Lokhai blushed and gave another small bow to him. "Thank you, sensei-kun!" she giggled, then sitting back down with a flourish.

The teacher arranged his papers and pulled out a pink slip, straightening up and raising his eyebrows at it. "Ah, it seems we have a new student today. Will Akai Kiseki come up to the front?"

Kiseki obediently stood up and walked the few feet between her and the chalkboard, turning to him. As he looked at her, he looked a little bit taken aback, his hand tightening slightly on the slip he was holding, before his face broke into a smile. "Welcome to Domino High, Kiseki," he said.

"Thank you, sensei," she replied, bowing to him. As it was, she was a little surprised at him; he looked very young to be a teacher. His hair was dark brown and rather long, so it was pulled into a ponytail at the back, and his brown eyes shined out at her from behind his glasses; his face was cleanly shaven. He turned back to the class and held out a hand toward her. "Everyone, this is your new classmate; Akai Kiseki. I am your new professor, Unishiwa. You can sit down now," he said, flashing another smile at her.

As she sat back down, the teen with the laptop narrowed his blue eyes at her. If she had that card... he needed to get it from her.

At lunch, Kiseki took her bag to a secluded area off to the side of the main eating area outside, sitting down and pulling out a bag of chips and a sandwich. She had forgotten her drink, but she shrugged it off and started eating, absentmindedly picking grass with her other hand as she chewed. She could sit here all day if she wanted to... the warm sun was shining down and the temperature was perfect; picking grass was a small entertaining activity to keep her busy. After finishing with her lunch, she walked back into the midst of the schoolchildren, looking for a garbage can and a drinking fountain. She found both, throwing away her lunch and drinking deeply from the fountain before making her way back to her spot on the grounds. Though, on the way there, Yugi decided it'd be a perfect time for introductions to his friends. Of course, with Kiseki there was never a good time to meet people her age, as she didn't enjoy their company, but Yugi dragged everyone over to her before she had gotten back to her spot. She stopped, blinking at the little one and then looking around at the others.

"Hey, Kiseki-kun!" said Yugi excitedly. "I thought you'd like to meet some of my friends! Here's Jonouchi," he said, waving a hand at the tall blonde, who merely made a slight noise of contempt and looked away; "...Honda," he gestured to the boy with the brown, pointed hair; "...Anzu," she stepped forward and bowed to Kiseki, her brown hair falling about her blue eyes as she smiled warmly at the girl; "...and Ryou," he finished, pointing to the white-haired boy. Kiseki merely looked at them for a moment before Yugi looked behind her and waved. "Hey Shizuka!" he called. As he did, a small girl bounded past Kiseki and hugged Jonouchi, giving him a small kiss on the cheek before turning to Yugi.

"Hey Yugi! How are you?" she asked. Her voice was sweet and high-pitched and flowed through the air like silk.

"Just introducing Kiseki to everybody," replied Yugi, now pointing to Kiseki. "This is Shizuka, Jonouchi's sister."

The small girl turned her chocolate-brown eyes upon Kiseki and swished her long, auburn hair. "Hi there!" she said merrily.

Kiseki found herself somewhat breathless as she gazed at the girl. She really was quite pretty, and Kiseki could have sworn that she felt some colour rising to her cheeks. "H-hello," she said, before clearing her throat. "Nice to meet you all." And with that, she walked past them and back into the shade of the trees with her book bag. She leaned against one of the trees and put a hand to her chin worriedly.

_Ye gods..._ she thought to herself. _That was close... last time that happened it stirred up such a fuss—_Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard someone else approaching. As she looked up, the tall boy was there, towering over her, his blue eyes gazing down at her coldly.

"Hello Akai," he said, his deep voice coming close to making her shudder. "There's something you have that I want."

She blinked up at him, confused. "W-what is it?" she asked.

"A card." Blunt enough.

"A card?" she repeated. "Why would you—"

"Because I have the most powerful deck in duel monsters, kohai," he said, nearly hissing the last word at her. "And powerful decks contain powerful cards. Those who are weak do not deserve to hold them."

An insult, completely out of nowhere. Kiseki was rather surprised at how rude he was being to her, but she kept calm and quiet. "How do you know I have what you want?" 

"Because that little runt Yugi saw you get it in his shop," he said coldly. "Don't try to make me think you don't have it."

"W-why would I give it to you? I don't even know who you are..."

"I am Kaiba Seto; that is a name with which you need to become acquainted if you're going to live here. Now show me the card." He held out his hand to her; it looked as though he could bruise an arm just by grasping it if he wanted to.

She nervously eyed it. "I--I...no, I don't want to..." she said in a barely audible whisper, turning away from him and folding her arms.

He growled slightly. "Then I'll duel you for it, kohai," he shot at her. "I challenge you."

Just then the bell rang, and she quickly picked up her bag, then turning to defiantly face him, deciding to get at least one full statement out at him. "I wouldn't even if I knew how, Kaiba." And with that, she turned on her heel and walked back toward the flood of students, Seto watching her all the way. 

_So...you can't even duel, then,_ he thought, walking towards the school as well, his eyes fixed upon her and a smirk forming on his lips. _No matter. I'll get it from you one way or another... just you wait..._

__

All righty! Ok, just in case there's any confusion, Kiseki's bisexual, so that's what the whole exchange with Shizuka was about. Well, what did you all think of that one? I'm going to try something for this ficcy; if you check my profile I've tried to post urls to pictures there, so if you want to see what Kiseki and Sensei Unishiwa look like, check that out and hope that it works! If it doesn't, email me (it won't let me put my full email address here, so look at my profile for it...) and I'll send them to you. Review onegai!


	5. A Threat, Yet An Inspiring One

Yay! Onto chapter 5! As a forewarning, this one is kinda dark towards the end, but on a brighter note, there's a picture that I drew from this chapter! Onward:

The end of the day finally arrived and Kiseki nearly got in trouble for leaving before the daily cleanup of the school. All of the students were assigned to different rooms to tidy up, and Kiseki made several administrators laugh when she asked why they didn't have janitors to do it. It's not that she didn't mind, she just got confused immensely by it since nearly all the students went about it without questions or complaints. She was assigned to Sensei Unishiwa's last room of the day, thankfully, and passed the cleaning time talking to him while the other students gave her odd looks and whispered to each other.

"Did you hear about her?"

"Yeah, I think I heard she has the best card in Duel Monsters or something..."

"Really? Wow, no fooling, what's her name?"

"I dunno... does it matter?"

Kiseki continued talking with the teacher as she leaned out the windows and clapped the chalkboard erasers together to dust them out. They were having a lot of fun discussing the differences in society, making Unishiwa laugh quite a bit.

"The _students_ switch classrooms?" he asked incredulously, arranging his files and quirking an eyebrow at her.

Kiseki nodded, setting two erasers on the board tray to take out the last two. "Though a lot of teachers switched classrooms as well." She nearly let out a laugh at the look on his face as he shook his head and started packing things away in his suitcase. "There were some students who came late nearly every day because they spent time talking and meeting up with friends."

"They would have been suspended had they done that here," he said in all seriousness, then switching his tone to one of amusement again. "But of course, _you_ were never caught being late," he chuckled, a somewhat teasing, sarcastic air about his words.

"Actually I wasn't," she replied simply and truthfully, placing the last erasers on the tray and dusting her hands off to fold her arms. "I didn't talk to many people then."

"Oh? And why was that?" inquired the professor, standing up and picking up his briefcase to start walking her out, for the cleaning was done with in that room and the students had begun to file out already.

Kiseki remained quiet for a few moments, not looking at him, before responding with a shrug. "I just didn't."

Unishiwa detected some tension in her voice, but it was the type that plainly warned him not to dig too deep into the matter, so he merely nodded and sighed, looking around at the hallways instead. There was a somewhat awkward silence between them at that point, so Kiseki changed the subject to something she always thought was humourous to hear about.

"So, what's the biggest stereotype you have here about America? Apart from the fact that we all live in huge houses and wear sunglasses everywhere?"

He laughed. "I must say, I've heard some really odd ones, but the funniest would definitely be the fact that everyone there carries a gun."

At this, Kiseki let a rather loud laugh out, making several students next to them jump. She shut her mouth, blushing slightly when she heard the professor chuckling heartily at her. "That's the most foolish thing I have ever heard," she muttered, keeping her face turned away from him until the slight colour had drained back out. Once it was pale again, she looked at Unishiwa, who was still smiling at her. "If that's going around, I don't think I want to hear the other odd ones about my home country," she said humourously.

"Oh the other ones aren't that bad," he admitted with a slight shrug. "They're all about what kinds of cars you all drive; big SUVs that couldn't see behind them if they were about to be crushed into a large cube."

"That's definitely my family for you," she said. "As soon as we got here, that was our first order of business; we have one."

"Well, I certainly hope that that thing doesn't cause you any misfortune," he said, turning to her and stopping, for they were now outside. "I'll see you tomorrow, then?"

She smiled and bowed with a small "hai", and he bowed back, then waving and walking to his car. Raising her hand slightly to wave back, she then turned to the gates of the school with a sigh. Her first day at Domino High had been completed. Smiling slightly, she readjusted her bag on her shoulder, only then realising how heavy it was with all of the textbooks her teachers had given her. Luckily a few had told her to keep them at home, but it seemed that the ones with the thickest books were set on making their students suffer by telling them to bring them every day. As she started toward the gate, her eyes wandered over the trees and plants on the campus, pausing occasionally as she spotted little nests with the chicks just beginning to fly out and in. She did not get too far, however, when suddenly she bumped into someone.

Stumbling backwards slightly, she regained her balance quickly and straightened up, about to apologise, when her breath caught in her throat. It was Kaiba. Though he looked far different compared to what she remembered. He was no longer in his school uniform, rather in an elegant outfit she would have expected on some sort of fashion designer.

He was wearing a long white trench coat with the necking turned up to curve around his face slightly, his broad torso brought out by the flared shoulders; the trench coat was one that seemingly defied gravity as it flared out behind him, accenting his slim figure, though not nearly as much as the tight-fitting black pants and turtleneck shirt he wore; slick black boots practically blended in with the pants; narrow buckles of dark purple were pulled tight about his upper arms and calves, with a sort of metal brace on his lower arms. She was so taken aback by his sudden transformation that she failed to notice the KC logo upon his belt buckle and trench coat flap. "You really should watch where you walk, kohai," he sneered at her.

She instantly felt the heat rushing to her face, but she kept calm and a slight tone of defiance wound its way into her voice. "You were the one looking forward, so you're partly to blame," she said, staring into his cerulean eyes.

"So says one who gets caught in an act of idiocy," he shot back at her.

Choosing to ignore this, she tightened her grip slightly on her bag. "Well you seem to have gotten quite comfortable," she said, surveying his outfit. "Do you honestly feel the need to change into something that obviously takes up a lot of time to put on?" Indeed, she did think it was foolish, though she had to admit with some vehemence that it made him look rather appealing.

"Do you honestly think I stick around to clean up after the slobs of the school? I refuse to lower myself to that level, but you are slightly correct in assuming I hate the school uniforms and yearn to rid myself of mine as soon as possible after school."

"So why did you come back?" asked Kiseki, shaking some of her bangs out of her eyes. 

"You should know, kohai," snarled Seto. "I came to give you another chance to give me the card."

She blinked at him, scared slightly at the change in attitude that had befallen him. "Another chance?"

"Hard on hearing aren't you?" He held his powerful, slender hand out again. "Give me the card," he repeated firmly. 

She backed away slightly from him. "I don't want to."

"That's not what I asked; I could care less whether you want to give it to me or not," he said, taking a step to narrow the space between them again.

"Leave me be," she argued, turning her eyes to the ground and moving to push past him. His hand immediately shot out and caught her roughly by the arm, pulling her back to him.

She winced at his grip, but kept her eyes fixed upon the gate as he leaned down to her ear and hissed into it. "I will have that card, kohai, you mark my words..." And with that, he let her go and she stumbled slightly away from him, not daring to look back as she distanced herself further away from him. She walked through the gate and then slipped behind the wall beside it, pressing herself to it. With a shaky hand she reached inside her bag and pulled out the card, as though to reassure herself that Seto had not somehow stolen it away from her. When she saw it, she breathed a sigh of relief and pressed the card to her chest, closing her eyes. The young CEO simply made his way to the limousine waiting for him outside the gate, and Kiseki drew in her breath and held it as she saw him walk past, but he did not notice her as he climbed in and shut the door. A few meters away, Yugi and the gang had seen the whole thing.

"Who does he think he is?" growled Anzu.

"I dunno but he's asking for a but-whooping I can tell you that much," said Honda, cracking his knuckles slightly. 

"Not now, guys," said Yugi. "We should really go see if she's alright; c'mon!" 

They all started towards where she had disappeared beyond the gate, though as she heard their voices, she tightened her grip on the card and pushed herself away from the wall, not wanting to speak to anyone after what had happened. As she sped away from the school, Seto chuckled, watching her every move from beyond the tinted windows of the limo. _She's frightened... just how I want it to be,_ he said to himself, smirking, before sternly telling the driver to take him back to his office building.

That night, Kiseki sat out on the porch and took out a small canvas to use. Her emotions were completely stirred up; she could barely keep herself from crying as she came home and saw her parents, but she hid her feelings away until she was the only one awake in the house. Tears began to flow silently down her face as she took out some blue and black paint, dipping her paintbrush in each and swiping it hard against the fabric on her easel. As she continued, the strokes became more fervent, some paint splashing on the floor from how strongly she whipped the brush across the surface, her jaw clenching to keep herself from openly sobbing as her anger pulsed through her hand. At long last, she threw the paintbrush down an sat back in her couch, curling up and holding her head, staring at the black and blue-streaked canvas. She felt completely drained, but not drained enough to draw out the card again. 

This card.... this was the reason everyone would not leave her alone... if it wasn't for this card, Yugi would have never introduced her to his pretty friend. Her hand tightened on it. _I vowed never to let those emotions show again... I almost let them slip out again..._ This card was the reason that Kaiba was after her... She hated it. She found herself standing up and walking to the balcony with the card in hand; her arm lifted to throw the cursed thing off into the wind...out of her life for good—when she looked up and saw the KC building once more. 

The single office window was lit up, and she stood, frozen, watching it. The person inside was still working at this late hour... A cool wind blew by, bringing the fresh scent of the night along with it as she remained there for a long while, just staring, her arm held over the balcony. _They're not giving up on work for sleep... they're pushing through it, even if it means sacrificing something that keeps them sane..._ She felt a familiar feeling growing inside her, one of determination and defiance; her arm slowly dropped to her side as she gazed out at the building, and a slight promise was made to herself in that moment. _As long as they keep pushing themselves to get through their time, I will do the same... _The card went back into her bag. _I will watch for you, my inspiration..._

20 blocks away, on the 20th floor, Seto typed continuously away on his laptop, the empty Kaiba Corp building quietly creaking to itself as it settled; no other noise was to be heard, as he was the only one left... searching... searching for what the card might be... searching... he would search until he found it... he would search until she gave it up to him... ever searching... 

And yeah, that's all for now; go to the webpage in my profile to see the picture I mentioned . Hope you all are enjoying this so far!


	6. Manifesting

Yay! I have the next chapter! Well, actually I had it done last week but I wasn't near a _good _computer! So, here's chapter 6! Enjoy!

The next morning Kiseki had to drag herself out of bed, though she didn't need to get changed, for she had fallen asleep in her uniform. Sitting up, she glowered slightly at the wall, but she felt much better compared to the night before. Sleep always seemed to help with that sort of thing. Getting up, she got ready and headed out with the now heavy schoolbag; getting to school early was a sort of necessity since she had forgotten to do her homework the previous night. She arrived at about the same time as she had the day before, meaning she saw Seto as well.

The same limo she had seen was in front of the school and he was making his way towards the building when she got there, so she quickly hid behind a tree in case he decided to turn around for some random reason. He did not, however, and she waited until the limo was out of sight as well before she emerged again, her heart pounding slightly in her chest. She started towards the school then, before she remembered that his locker was in a direct line of view from the front door. Pausing, she walked into the gates and then set her bag down on the concrete, then sitting beside it and leaning her back against the wall. She took out her little bit of unfinished homework and began to do it, a light wind rustling her clothes every now and then.

As it so happened, two others had decided to show up early as well. Jonouchi had some homework he had missed the day before that he needed to pick up, and Shizuka had just decided to tag along and keep him company, being the nice person she was. When they came in the gates, Shizuka noticed Kiseki sitting by herself, writing, and she tugged on her brother's shirt sleeve.

"Jikei-kun, it's Kiseki," she said quietly, pointing. "Think she's ok? From yesterday I mean."

Jonouchi turned his head slightly to look, but turned away just as fast. "I have to get my work, imoutosan." And he walked forth into the building, leaving her staring blankly after him. She shrugged and turned to Kiseki again, clutching her books to her. As she came towards her, Kiseki's pencil stopped in its careful writing, though she did not look up.

"Hey, Kiseki-kun!" said Shizuka happily, tilting her head to one side and smiling warmly.

Kiseki froze for a moment at her voice, but she recovered and looked up at the auburn-haired girl. A small smile found its way to her lips, but no sound came out.

"Me and everyone else saw what happened yesterday; I wanted to see whether you were ok," said Shizuka without any hesitation, giving Kiseki a somewhat imploring look.

The blue-haired girl looked away for a moment at nothing in particular across the way. _She saw it... perfect..._ She turned her eyes upon the girl again and nodded slightly. "Yeah... yeah I'm fine... he just scared me is all."

"I'd be scared too if he grabbed me like that," she affirmed with a slight shudder. "What did he want anyway?"

Kiseki paused again before responding. Shizuka looked even prettier now in the morning light, and the fact that she was concerned about her... "A card I got..." she murmured.

"Really? Wow, it must be pretty powerful then, huh?" She knelt down beside Kiseki and put her books beside her. When Kiseki nodded silently again, she went on. "May I see it?"

Again, the blue-eyed girl hesitated. She became slightly frustrated with herself for making herself look slow and dim-witted in front of Shizuka, but she had a reason to stop this time. If she showed Shizuka... the whole school would find out, including Kaiba... The chocolate-eyed girl placed a hand on Kiseki's arm.

"If you don't want to, it's fine; I'm just curious," she said kindly.

A slight blush found its way to Kiseki's cheeks at Shizuka's touch. "...I...I..." She couldn't get the words out at all. She shook her head slightly, then reaching hesitantly into her bag. After a moment of rummaging, she pulled out the card and gazed at it a moment before turning it slightly to show Shizuka. The brown-haired girl leaned forward, some of her soft hair falling upon Kiseki's shoulder as she looked at it.

"Wow, that's a pretty awesome card, no wonder you don't want to give it to him," she said, smiling. "Your deck must be pretty powerful if you have something like that in it."

"I...don't have a deck," muttered Kiseki, putting the card back.

"Oh! Well..." Shizuka squinted her eyes at Kiseki. "Then why don't you give it to him if you're not going to use it?"

"Because I like it... Ever since I first saw it, I've felt like... like I never want to give it up, especially not to someone like that who'd just use it to gain power."

"Yeah, Kaiba's kinda like that sometimes. You should have seen him in the Battle City Finals last year," said Shizuka with a laugh. It sounded sweet in Kiseki's ears, and she drew in her breath slightly. "Well, I should probably get going; my brother won't want me talking to the person who hit him with a door," she said with a smile, picking up her books and standing. "Though it was kinda funny hearing about it. Let me know if you need to talk or something, ok?"

Kiseki nodded, though the smile she had slightly faltered as the auburn-haired girl spoke those words. Kiseki had heard them before and wasn't about to trust _anyone_ who said them to her. Shizuka waved to her and then turned to the school, the wind blowing her hair gracefully to the side. When she was about halfway there, Kiseki thought of something and called after her, sitting up.

"Shizuka--"

"Hm?" She turned around and looked at Kiseki.

"...please don't tell anyone about the card."

She was slightly confused by the request, but nodded and smiled reassuringly, turning back around to continue on her way. Right as Kiseki was about to refocus her attention onto her homework, a particularly large gust blew by and accidentally caused Shizuka's skirt to fly up in the back. She yelped slightly and turned back to Kiseki, putting a hand behind her to stay the ruffling fabric. "Sorry about that!" she called.

The blue-haired girl didn't respond; it had happened so suddenly that her mind had told her body to kindly go and jump in a lake; she couldn't think. As Shizuka continued on into the school, Kiseki remained still as her cheeks flushed even more. _That was..._ Her mind refused to make a mental connection with that and a word. After a moment, however, she blinked and shook her head fervently. _I am such a pervert..._ she thought to herself, shoving her books into her bag.

Meanwhile inside the school, Jonouchi and Seto had a run in. As soon as the blonde walked in the front doors, Seto turned his gaze from his locker to him, his eyes narrowing as soon as they were set. "What are you doing here so early, mutt?" he growled.

"Like I'd tell you, Kaiba," said Jonouchi, coming forward; his classroom was just down the hallway of Seto's locker.

"I'm surprised I don't see your ditz of a sister skipping along behind you; what happened? Couldn't get her leash undone this morning?"

"For your information, she's outside talking to the girl you harassed yesterday," he replied, stopping to prod a finger in the middle of Seto's chest. "We saw that whole thing, why don't you leave the poor girl alone?"

Seto immediately grabbed Jonouchi's wrist and twisted it back, making the brown-eyed boy grimace. "Don't touch me, mutt," Seto said coldly. "And I don't need you telling me what you think is right; the only advice people can trust you for is about what foods to stay away from." He let go of Jonouchi's hand and roughly pushed him away from himself, then turning to slam his locker shut and pick up his briefcase. As he walked down the hallway towards his classroom, Jonouchi shouted after him.

"Good luck trying to get that off your conscience, Kaiba! You won't be able to stop thinking about her until you stop messing with her head and hunt her down and take that card!" And with that, he walked into his classroom.

Seto snickered to himself as he walked away, Jonouchi's last statement echoing down the empty hallway. _Indeed, he was right about one small thing,_ he thought to himself. _I didn't stop thinking about her at all when I left..._

The night before, he had stayed up extremely late in his office building, looking in every possible place for something about the new card. The only thing that he found was a small hint that Pegasus J. Crawford had created another card from the tablet that held the power of the three Egyptian God cards, though it did not mention what it was, nor what it did. After 11, Seto became slightly frustrated and decided to go home. The limo driver had fallen asleep, but after a sharp rap on the window and a scolding, he had woken up and started to drive Seto back to his mansion.

As soon as they reached the front wrought iron gate, the driver leaned out the window of the car to slide a security card through the small number pad next to it before punching in a code, making the gate creak open. At this, the CEO scolded the driver again about not keeping the hinges oiled enough and coldly reminded him that he would lose his job if he let it happen again. When the limo arrived at the front of the house, Seto stepped out and the driver left, following the circle drive around to go park in a separate area on the grounds. Taking out a key, Seto unlocked the large oak front door of his mansion, then stepping inside quietly. The lights were off because it was so late at night, but Seto knew his way around like the back of his hand, so he merely used the small amount of moonlight that was seeping in through the windows. He didn't make it too far, however, when suddenly something slammed into his midsection.

He stumbled back slightly, shocked, before he realised that whatever it was was hugging him tightly and from somewhere about his navel a small squeak reached his ears. "Heya Seto!"

"Mokuba, what are you doing up?" asked Seto, still standing rather awkwardly, as his brother had not let go of him yet.

The younger boy gave his brother an extra squeeze before finally releasing his grip. "You know I can't go to sleep until you're home, Seto," he said with a smile, the moonlight shining off his bright eyes and dark hair.

"How did you get Tsuke to let you stay up?" the tall one asked with a slight smirk. "You know how fussy she gets when you don't get enough sleep; you'd think she was your mother or something."

"You'd be surprised how easily maids can be... persuaded," chuckled Mokuba, pulling out his wallet and showing Seto how empty it was.

At this Seto scowled slightly. "That was your allowance; you couldn't have just pretended to sleep?"

"Now where would the fun be in that? Just goes to show the types of people you decide to leave me with, Seto," said the little one, clasping his hands behind his back.

"Well, would you like to fire this one?" asked Seto, leaning down to ruffle his little brother's hair.

"Nah, I know how much you enjoy yelling at people; you can do it," said Mokuba, grinning. "So why'd you come home so late?"

"I was researching a new card," he replied, starting towards the staircase.

"Oh really? Wow! What's this one like, Seto?" The younger Kaiba brother started nearly jumping around Seto as they ascended the stairs together. "Is it more powerful than the God cards or what?"

"That's precisely what I was trying to find out, Mokuba," he growled out slightly. "I've no idea what it is nor what it does."

"Then how do you know it exists? Did you see it or what?" The younger boy could barely hold in his excitement as they reached the top of the stairs; Seto slightly smirked at him before responding.

"I haven't seen it, but the little runt Yugi has. And I've met the person who has it as well."

"I'm sure you'll get it from them one way or another, Seto," said Mokuba, giving him a thumbs-up. "Lemme know if you need any help in getting them to duel you for it, alright?"

Seto nodded and then changed his tone to one of slight authority. "Now you should get to bed, Mokuba; you do have school tomorrow, as do I."

"Aww come on, Seto, can't I stay up?"

"No."

"Pleeeeeease?" He made his eyes big and shiny in an attempt at a puppy face, but Seto was unfased.

"Go to bed, Mokuba."

The black-haired boy pouted and walked down the hallway toward his room, stopping only to stick his tongue out at Seto before he shut his door. Seto chuckled slightly at this before going to his own room and taking off his trench coat, throwing it on his bed before walking into the bathroom to wash up. When he got in there, however, he surveyed himself in the mirror, his hands gripping the sides of the sink as he leaned forward slightly to look himself in the eye. His mind began to wander onto Kiseki as his azure eyes narrowed. _I have to see that card, at least to know everything it does to see if it's even powerful enough to be in my deck..._ He smirked as he watched himself straighten back up to his full height. _She's afraid of me... if she doesn't show me soon I may have to... persuade her a little bit..._

Seto was brought sharply back down to Earth when he heard the front door of the school opening, and he stopped reminiscing about the night before to focus on the person now walking inside. It was Shizuka, and she came towards him, though somewhat hesitantly.

"Hey, Kaiba, did you see where my brother went?" she asked.

"Like it's my job to keep track of that mutt," he growled back.

"Kaiba, please don't call him that," she said, looking slightly angry. "You're always so mean to everyone, especially Kiseki, and she just got here!"

"Speaking of Akai," he said, stepping toward her. "I heard you were having a nice little chat with her. Find out anything interesting?"

Shizuka took a step back from him, holding her books to herself. "I--I was just seeing how she was doing, that's all."

He smirked at this. "To me it looks like she told you more than that. Am I right?"

She swallowed slightly. _I can't tell him... she asked me not to tell anybody, but she seemed to not want Kaiba to know most of all..._ "She didn't tell me anything except that you've been scaring her, Kaiba," she said quietly.

"I already knew that, Katsuya," he hissed at her. "She showed you the card, didn't she?"

Her eyes went wide; he had caught her already. At that moment, however, Jonouchi opened up the door to his classroom with a homework sheet clutched in his hand, and Shizuka took the opportunity to brush past Kaiba to go to him. As the two siblings met up, Seto's grip on his briefcase tightened considerably out of anger, but he immediately released it as a slight realisation reached him. The front door of the school opened at that moment and he turned to see Kiseki coming in, a slight smirk forming on his face.

_You have given me another source for information, kohai,_ he thought malevolently as she came forward.

She barely glanced at Seto as she walked in, but it was enough to frighten her slightly. She didn't like the look that he was giving her one bit, and she had to keep herself from nearly running down the hallway towards her classroom. Though she was saved from slightly humiliating herself by the two Katsuya siblings, who saw her and hurriedly intervened. Jonouchi had seen how Kaiba had started to act and he had actually started feeling somewhat sympathetic towards the girl of his tormenting.

"Hey Kiseki, I'm going to walk Shizuka to class, want to come with?" he called to her.

Kiseki felt a little hesitant to walk with them, as she felt nervous talking to the boy who hadn't exactly warmed up to her ever since she embarrassed him on her first day, but considering Shizuka's classroom appeared to be in the opposite direction of hers and Seto's first class, she obliged more than happily and passed by the tall CEO to join up with them. Shizuka gave her a smile and gently put a hand on Kiseki's back as she threw a slightly worried look back at Seto before they started down the hallway and away from him.

He immediately turned away and walked towards his classroom, but not before noticing that Kiseki had blushed as Shizuka's hand had made contact with her. _That's why she showed her... it looks like the little kohai has found a crush,_ he snickered to himself. _Though I wonder how much she's willing to show it._

Not very soon after, he was in the classroom, typing away, and as Kiseki came in, followed by Jonouchi, devious plans had begun to form in his head... plans to get her to show him the card... to get her to give it to him... Though as he carefully selected the first to put into action, he had no idea how much of an effect they would have on the girl...

----------------------------

Hee hee, nasty cliffhanger, yes, but oh well . I am working diligently on chapter 7 right now, and I'm going on vacation next week. That means I won't be able to post until June 30 when I get back! :gasps from startled onlookers: If I get enough reviews I'll work my butt off and get chapter 7 up before Sunday! Cross my heart and hope to die :crosses heart and dies:


	7. Resurfacing of Bad Memories

Alright, I only got a few reviews, but oh well, I was going to post this either way before I left. It gets kinda dark towards the end, so watch out!

Chapter 7: Resurfacing of Bad Memories

Once again Kiseki sat through her class, though rather stiffly because she felt like Kaiba was watching her every move. In truth, he would only occasionally look up at her from his relentless typing, but from those few glances he knew that she was nervous. And why wouldn't she be? She was being harassed for something special to her, not only that, but the instigator was one of the most powerful, intimidating people in Domino City. Unishiwa noticed her odd position in her seat as he was teaching Trigonometry, and when the bell rang, he took advantage of the conversations that erupted among the students and walked forward to kneel down and rest his arms on Kiseki's desk, looking at her intently.

"Is there something wrong?" he asked when she looked back at him.

"N-no, does it look like there is?" she replied, making a split-second decision not to talk to him about Kaiba.

"Yes, it does."

It was only then that Kiseki realised how tensed up she was, and she quickly relaxed her muscles and shook some bangs out of her eyes to quirk an eyebrow at him. "Well, there's not." He mimicked her and raised an eyebrow as well, and she quickly added, "But thank you, sensei."

He stood up, but still was giving her a slightly questioning look. She forced herself to smile reassuringly at him. "Really, I'm fine."

"Well, I'll see you after school today, and I'll bug you again if you still look as worried as you do now, alright?" he said, picking up his things.

She nodded, making a promise to herself that she'd calm down before then. As he left with a wave, she heard movement behind her in the desks and when she looked back down to start working again, a fist with nicely trimmed pink nails slammed down on her desk. It didn't scare her nearly as much as the face that was two inches from hers when she looked up at the owner: it was Lokhai, and she looked rather livid.

"What do you think you're doing?" the red head hissed dangerously at her through clenched teeth.

Kiseki blinked and lightly pushed the girl's hand off her desk to start writing again. "I'm working, what's it look like?" She had really come to dislike Lokhai and felt no resistance to throwing her horrible attitude right back at her.

Her green eyes narrowed and she threw her hand out to grab Kiseki roughly by the front of her shirt to pull her up slightly and glare her straight in the eye. "You know what I mean, kohai. Unishiwa is _mine_."

"I don't see your name anywhere on him," said Kiseki, looking right back with no emotion.

"It doesn't need to be; you're taking his attention and there's no way I'm going to let you steal him."

"As if I wanted to," said Kiseki, prying the prep's hands off of her. "You're getting worked up over an assumption, so at least try to analyse what you see before you take on any rash actions. Unless of course, you think Sensei Unishiwa would prefer someone like you, then by all means, keep at it." When Lokhai didn't seem to be able to rebut, Kiseki added one more insult to her little speech with a slight grin. "Are you that jealous of a little kohai like me?"

"I—of course not!" she practically squeaked, straightening up and folding her arms. "Kami, you're even _worse_ than techno boy over there!" she added, thrusting a finger out at Kaiba, who then chuckled and spoke.

"That's just perfect, isn't it? One more person for you to ignore," he sneered, making her jump, as he had never said anything to her before. "Maybe if you treated her more like me, you wouldn't get so flustered over such little things? But of course, red heads need _some_thing to keep up their tempers, don't they?"

Lokhai turned red and clenched her fists, though she could not seem to be able to come out with the right words to yell at him, so she stomped back to her seat, sitting down heavily with a huff. Her friends followed suit and they immediately started conversing amongst themselves, while the rest of the class started up again, as it had gone silent during the confrontation. Kiseki threw a glance at Seto to see him give one small snicker with his eyes closed, looking a little too smug for her liking.

As the two went back to work, Yugi and his friends leaned into each other to talk.

"Man... they're kinda alike, aren't they?" whispered Jonouchi.

"No kidding, though I think we're all happy that someone finally shut _her_ up," said Honda, nodding towards Lokhai.

The boys agreed fervently, but Anzu put a hand to her chin thoughtfully instead. Honda looked over at her.

"You aren't about to _defend_ that little--" He was cut off by a sharp elbow in the ribs from Jonouchi. Clutching at his side, he punched Jonouchi in the arm before continuing. "Are you?"

"No, I'm not... but..." Anzu bit her lip. "Don't you think that it was a little weird that Kaiba spoke out like that? I mean, he doesn't really pay attention when other people are getting picked on by her, and... he hasn't exactly been that nice to Kiseki, so why would he even bother?"

The group was left to ponder that question, as that happened to be the precise moment that the next teacher walked in and started class.

Later on in the day, Kiseki once again sat by herself near the trees at lunchtime, this time just snacking on a small amount of pudding and some cashew nuts. Eating wasn't exactly her highest priority, and considering she packed her own lunch, there was no one to judge how she ate. The pudding was finished off first, for she was the type that liked to leave the best for last; cashews were by far her favourite things to eat. Yugi and the gang were sitting a few meters away at a table, again throwing glances at her every now and then. They were relatively quiet for some time, and those who made eye contact with each other would look over at Kiseki, then back at each other, then sort of shrug it off and go back to eating.Finally Jonouchi slammed down his sandwich.

"Is someone going to ask her to eat with us or what?" he practically yelled, making the girls jump.

"Well why don't you, if you're so worked up about it?" said Honda, reaching out a hand to gesture towards her.

"Alright, I will." The blonde returned Honda's look and then got up and walked over to Kiseki. "Hey, uh, Kiseki?"

She stopped eating and tilted her chin up, blinking at him.

"You wanna come over and eat with us?" he asked, bending over slightly to point under the low hanging branches of the trees.

"No thank you." She went back to eating quietly, eating each nut separately and savouring them.

Now it was Jonouchi's turn to blink as he straightened up slightly and pursed his lips, folding his arms. "Come on, what do you have to lose?"

"Nothing at all."

"So, why don't you come over?"

"I don't want to."

"Why not?" He was starting to become slightly flustered with her and was keeping himself from losing it and yelling at her as he had done the previous morning.

She shrugged slightly, keeping her eyes fixed ahead of her. "I just don't."

He clenched his fist slightly and then stomped back to the table and sat down heavily. He didn't need to say what had just happened, as it was blatantly obvious to everyone who had been watching, and they went back to eating quietly, though their glances did not stray to her again.

"Well, you certainly look better, Kiseki," said Unishiwa when she came in to do cleaning that afternoon.

She nodded, smiling as she once again took to clapping the erasers. She had quite liked it the day before and had gotten there early to ensure that she got them before anyone else. 

"Are you sure nothing was wrong this morning?"

Again nodding, she turned to the windows and swung her hands together, closing an eye against the chalk dust that flew out as a result. "I was just tired, I guess."

"Didn't look like that to me, but--" He sighed, pulling some papers out of a folder and looking them over. "If you don't feel like talking about it, that's your choice, I suppose. But know that you can always come to me to talk about what's bothering you, alright?"

Her hands paused in their work as the words reached her ears; as they registered her eyes narrowed slightly at the sky outside. She could feel her hands tightening upon the erasers to the point that her knuckles started to lose colour. Another person had lost her trust. Unishiwa looked up from his papers and leaned over his desk slightly to look at her turned back.

"Kiseki?"

She started dusting the erasers out again. "I heard you, Sensei. Thank you." The words were hardly heartfelt, but the professor wasn't close enough to hear their toneless quality. After cleaning was done, he walked with her outside, and not very soon after a shrill call rang out across the courtyard and both of them turned to see Lokhai bounding up. Completely ignoring Kiseki, she started talking to Unishiwa, her hands clasped together in front of her. Kiseki shrugged and walked on without waiting, Unishiwa looking after her for a moment before turning back to Lokhai, lighting up a cigarette.

As the girl walked out towards the gate, she spotted a familiar black limo outside of it, a door already opening up. She stopped as Seto stepped out, once again in his elegant array of clothing, and she did not move from her spot as he came up to her, his trench coat billowing out majestically behind him.

"Have a good day of school, kohai?" he sneered at her, folding his arms.

"What do you want?" She wasn't about to let him catch her off guard again.

"My my, aren't we impatient," he said, snickering much like he had done earlier. "I'd have thought you'd have more respect for me by now."

"Why?" This time around, she had grown somewhat used to his height and wasn't nearly as intimidated as she had been before.

"Because you are so insignificant and meaningless."

She scowled slightly at the insult, but chose not to respond; she instead made to walk past him. He did not hold her to with his hand this time, however--moreover, with his words.

"Katsuya's sister is looking awfully pretty today; I'm sure you've noticed, kohai."

She had become rather stiff as he spoke, but she wasn't too detained yet. "And what if she is?"

"Well, you seem to have taken quite a shining to her," he said, smirking and turning to face her back, as she had not moved to look at him.

Her fist clenched slightly, but out of sight. "She's—nice, that's why." Her words were awfully strained, almost choked out.

He walked around her to lean down and peer at her, the twisted smile still upon his lips. "Tell me," he whispered. "Do you only blush at the sight of pretty girls like that? Or—" He grasped her chin and tilted her face up to him; he was so close that she could feel his breath on her face. "Do you swing both ways?"

Instantly she felt the heat rising to her cheeks, though what her face showed was nothing compared to the terror welling up in the pit of her stomach. Seto smirked as he saw a slight threat of tears from the girl.

"Well? Did you suddenly forget how to speak?" He tilted his head a little. "Though your cheeks are bright red right now, kohai. What does that say, hm?"

"L-let me go," she stammered out, reaching up with a slightly shaky hand to try and pry his off her chin. His grip only tightened, however, and she grimaced slightly before muttering something inaudible.

"What was that, kohai? Your voice has become so weak and feeble that I couldn't hear a word you just said," he snickered at her. "If you speak up I may decide to let go." When she did not speak, he went further and wrapped an arm about her waist. "Need I persuade you any more?" he asked as her cheeks flushed even more. "Speak!"

She swallowed hard, trying with all of her might not to think about how close their bodies had suddenly become, before glaring up at him, her eyes beginning to brim with tears of fear. "...I... I... do..." She swallowed again. "...like boys...too..."

He chuckled darkly at her. "The mutt's sister is quite a pick, kohai; I'd advise you make the move on her soon before someone else does. Though of course, that would make known to everyone that you're a fag."

She cringed at that word and pushed herself away from him, tears beginning to flow freely down her cheeks. _This wasn't supposed to happen... no one should know... I don't want..._ that _to happen again... not again! _She turned on her heel and ran away from him as fast as she could, her fright reaching a peak when he shouted after her.

"Give me the card, and you might be safe, kohai!"

The shout attracted everyone's attention to him, then to her as she pushed her way out of the crowds of students and down the street, gritting her teeth as more tears splashed down her face. It also made Unishiwa look over from his conversation with Lokhai, and when he spotted Kiseki in her state, he immediately ran forward and stopped next to Kaiba as the teen smirked and folded his arms.

"What did you say to her?" he demanded fervently, turning to Seto.

The CEO looked at Unishiwa, the smirk disappearing from his face. "What's it to you, Kabau?"

"That's Sensei Unishiwa to you, young man," the professor growled. "Answer my question!"

"I merely pointed out something she did not want me to," he replied.

"Well, what was it?"

"Why don't you ask her yourself, since you're _so_ concerned for her well being?" Seto turned and started towards his limo, Unishiwa following closely behind.

"I don't want to see you harassing her any more, do you hear me?"

Kaiba stopped slightly to turn to Unishiwa. "Fine then, I'll do it outside of school and away from your eyes," he sneered, and with that, he got into the limo and shut the door with a snap; the limo drove away seconds after, leaving Unishiwa standing by the curb with a clenched fist.

Kiseki did not stop running until she had reached home, and as soon as she was safely inside the apartment, she collapsed upon the floor in a heap, curling up and shaking, her sobs escalating. Immediately her mother ran out of her bedroom and gasped when she saw her child in a fetal position. Just as fast, she had rushed over and knelt beside Kiseki, pulling her up to cradle her to her chest. 

"Kiseki-kun, what happened?" she asked fervently, stroking her daughter's hair and rocking her gently from side to side.

"Mama... mama...." Kiseki couldn't get any words out; she merely clutched at her mother's shirt, shaking violently now and barely containing her loud cries.

"Sh-h... calm down, sweetie, calm down..." The mother held her girl closer and put her head down to rest her cheek against blue hair. "I'm here now."

Kiseki merely pressed herself into her mother, curling up again, though her crying became slightly more subdued. Her mother gently tilted her chin up and wiped away her tears, peering concernedly, yet softly, into her blue eyes with her green ones.

"What happened?" she asked again. 

"Mama..." She swallowed as fear once again emerged within her and harshly twisted her stomach into a tight knot. "...S-Someone... someone found out...."

The woman's brow creased slightly. "Found out about....?"

"About _me_! He knows, mama! He saw me looking at a girl and he knows!" She broke away from her mother and ran into the bathroom, locking the door and then turning on the shower full blast to drown out a fresh wave of terrified cries.

As the bathroom filled with steam, her whole body felt drenched with tears as the moisture clung to her skin; after a few minutes she stripped down and practically crawled into the shower, sitting on the floor of it and curling up, hugging her knees to herself as the water came down in torrents, streaming over her body. She wasn't crying anymore, but her eyes were bloodshot and fear still gripped her mercilessly as she started to rock back and forth. A hand went down to her right side, slowly rubbing it over her skin until it reached a point slightly above her hip, where it stopped to shakily trace over a deep, two-inch scar. Leaving that hand over it, she leaned heavily against a wall of the shower, raising her other hand to trail her fingers over the smooth tile, then clenching her hand into a fist, her teeth gritting again as she shut her eyes. 

"Not again....."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Ooo what happened to Kiseki? You are all left to ponder that until I get back! Bwaha! Alright, on a more serious note, I'll be back on June 30 and I'll try to update when I get home. Have fun guessing!


	8. Tension Builds

Huzzah! I'm back! And I finally finished chapter 8, though it's kinda short. Anyway! Whew, got 7 reviews for that last chapter :ish happy: seems like everyone wants to take a piece outta Kaiba, heh heh. In response to a couple-- 

**Jon--** Yep, you got who did it to her but you didn't guess what they did ;) nice job, though. 

**Kristen--** Ergh :scratches head: I've no idea how long this will be, actually, but at least I know how it's going to resolve (I really didn't know how Pulled Into Colour was going to end up until I was about halfway through it :smacks self in the head:) and Seto wasn't really "hitting" on Kiseki so to speak, he was just using his ultimate sexiness to pressure her into telling him what he wanted =].

**Alana-Star--** the only one to take a whack at what happened! Annnnd.... no, she wasn't raped, but that was a good guess anyway =]. You'll find out the full extent of the story behind the scar in either chapter 9 or 10, depending upon how each turns out as I write. 

**To everyone else--** Thanks so much for reading and reviewing! I love hearing from you all! :glomps everyone: Onwards!

Chapter 8: Tension Builds

Unishiwa sighed slightly and started packing away his bags as the students all around him picked up and cleaned the classroom. Kiseki had not shown up for school that day, and he was slightly worried about what the reason was. His mind kept reverting back to the smug look that he had seen on Seto's face the day before, and he had half a mind to find the boy again and question him further. Pausing, he thought about calling Kiseki's house to see that she was all right, but dismissed the idea just as quickly, telling himself she was probably just sick or something. He did, however, seriously consider calling the next day if she didn't show up.

As he walked outside and looked around at all the teenagers meeting up with friends and leaving, his mind once again went to Kiseki, thinking this time about how she had changed the subject when he had asked her why she didn't socialize. He wondered why she acted the way she did around other people depending on their age... what could have caused such a drastic difference between them? He had come to the conclusion that she didn't particularly like teenagers because he had watched her at mealtimes; the little bundle of trees under which she sat was near the window to the teacher's lounge.

His mind continued to dwell on her, and it decided to settle upon the first day he had seen her eating lunch. Kaiba had approached her. His hand clenched tightly at the memory of how her face looked when the boy was speaking to her. She had looked frightened, even right at the end of their conversation. _Maybe Kaiba had done something to make her afraid of coming to school today_, he thought worriedly.

He looked up suddenly, finding himself in front of his apartment already. It was only about a ten minute walk from the school, but he was surprised at how he had made his way to it without even thinking about it. Shaking his head, he took out his key and unlocked his door.

Sighing, Kiseki raised her paintbrush again, dabbing some red onto the pupils of the Kodoku Doragon now on her easel. She sat somewhat rigid in her chair, and had been for quite some time; her back hurt. She reached a hand behind her and gingerly jammed a fist into the small of her back, hoping to ease some of the tension there, but it didn't help. The sounds of birds and cars were somewhat stifled—she was too focused on the noises coming from the inside of her house, though she didn't want to be.

Her parents were talking in low voices inside. She knew it was about her because of how uncomfortable they sounded. Her father had come home some 30 minutes earlier, and her parents had been talking ever since. She had not gone in to say hello; ever since she had finally emerged from the bathroom the day before, she couldn't stand the mixed look on her mother's face. The two had had several small conversations the night before, coming to the conclusion that she should stay home just because of her mental state; she could barely get any words out and shook until she had gone to bed. After that, she had woken up several times in the middle of the night, sweating, as images of people surrounding her mixed with swirls of red, blue, and asphalt grey.

They were talking about her now... probably discussing whether they should let her stay home again. They loved their daughter very much, but were having an extremely difficult time talking about her, taking into account the circumstances surrounding her fear.

Kiseki did not want to go back to school. Not yet, anyway. Kaiba had frightened her greatly, and she worried that he might tell Shizuka about his findings. She wanted to stay at home for at least another day just to be safe, but also partially because she had made quite a lot of progress in her painting of the card, and knew that it would take her even more time to complete it.

She always took time with her paintings with the knowledge that she'd be seeing them for the rest of her life. Not once had she given up a painting to anyone; she considered them to be her memories. Painting was the only thing she did in her spare time, and however she felt was what the painting turned out to be. If boredom was her motivation, she'd paint the landscape around her house. There were the occasional random splotch paintings when she just needed some stress relief, but she kept those as well to remind herself to be grateful of when she was in a good mood.

The door to the patio slid open and she turned her head to see her father poke his head through. "Kiseki-kun... erm..." He glanced slightly at the floor before looking back up at her. "Are you feeling any better?" He bit his lip at seeing how tense she looked. "Because... if you want, you can stay home again for another day. Just in case the..." He paused slightly. "...news about you made it out."

She nodded quietly, and he bowed his head. "Alright, then. Dinner will be ready in about a half hour, Mom just started making it." When she gave another confirming nod, he smiled slightly and closed the patio door again.

"Ye gods that'll be awkward," she muttered, putting her paint brush down and sitting back heavily.

Lunchtime arrived again, and Unishiwa sat in the teachers' lounge, staring out the window at the empty space in which Kiseki usually sat. He was definitely concerned about her now, and after a short time spent thinking about where she was, he decided to find out. Taking out his wallet, he pulled out a piece of paper and stood up from the table and walked out.

As he crossed the grounds through the mass of students and made his way towards the gate, he heard someone behind him and turned around to find himself face to face with Kaiba. "What do you want?" he almost growled out.

Kaiba stopped in front of him, a smirk forming as he folded his arms. "I want to know where you are off to in such a hurry," he replied.

"That is not your concern, now go back to lunch."

"She is not your concern either, Kabau," the student said, fixing him with a piercing stare.The professor blinked at him. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yes you do; anyone smart enough to walk could easily tell that she is the person on your mind."

"Who the hell are you talking about?" he snarled back, clutching the piece of paper he had in his hand a little tighter. It crinkled, and Seto's eyes fell upon it.

"The new little kohai in your class," Seto said, refocusing his eyes on Unishiwa. "You have been watching her through your window in the school at lunch; you were just looking at the spot in which she usually sits and suddenly stood up and decided to go for a little walk, and that little piece of paper seems to be important to the trip. What's on it?"

"That's none of your concern! Go back to lunch!" Unishiwa pointed a finger at the crowd of students still eating behind them.

Seto merely snickered. "Could it be, by any chance, her address?"

Unishiwa froze. "It is not her address, Kaiba," he said sternly. "Teachers cannot have any more information about their students than their phone numbers."

"Then you certainly don't need to keep whatever it is in your hand as you leave, right?" 

Unishiwa scowled at him and stuffed the piece of paper into his pocket, then turning to walk out the gates in a huff. Seto watched him with an eyebrow raised and turned back to make his way through the students.

When he was about a block away, Unishiwa glanced back, pulled out the paper again, and smoothed it out as he continued to walk. Frowning slightly, he put it away again and sped up his pace—he knew that where he was going was a bit far. Once he reached his destination, he knocked on the door politely and waited.

Takai opened up the door and looked up at him, a slightly puzzled expression on her face. "Yes? May I help you?"

"Pardon my intrusion, Akai-sama," he said, bowing to her. "But I am one of Kiseki's teachers and I haven't seen her in class or received any news as to why, and I came to check to see what was wrong."

Kiseki, still outside on the porch, paused in her painting to listen. The voices were somewhat muffled through the door, but she could hear that it was a male voice at the door talking to her mother. As their conversation went on, she got up quietly from her chair and pressed an ear hesitantly to the door. Her eyes went wide as she heard her mother explaining.

"If you must know, she's been terrified about coming to school," Takai said after being prompted several times. "Someone found out about... something that she doesn't want others to know about her, considering what happened the last time it leaked out."

"Oh? What? I-if you don't mind me asking?" he said courteously.

"Well..." She lowered her voice, and Kiseki backed away from the door, knowing what she was about to tell whoever it was. After a short time, she heard the door close and she immediately threw open the patio door to walk up to her mother.

"What did you tell him?" she yelled.Takai jumped at her sudden outburst.

"Kiseki-kun, what—"

"What did you tell him?" she demanded again.

"Sweetie, I just explained why you weren't at school, will you lower your voice?" her mother replied, coming forward slightly.

"You told him didn't you?" Kiseki shouted, ignoring her mother's request.

"Yes, I did! Please calm down!" Takai said, her voice starting to rise as well.

"No! I won't! You just told another person about—about what got me hurt last time!"

"But Kiseki, it wasn't a st—"

"Why did you tell him?"

"Because he was concerned about you!"

"That's what everyone else said the last time!"

"Kiseki, he was trying to help!"

"So were the other people who hurt me before!" Kiseki yelled. "You're so incompetent! You're making the exact same mistakes all over again! Maybe this time they'll kill me and then I won't have to suffer because of your—"

_SMACK._

A quiet, dread-filled silence settled upon the room as time seemed to slow down, neither of the figures moving. Kiseki's face was still slightly turned, her cheek stinging greatly as it turned a reddish hue. She turned her shocked face to her mother, who looked terrified, her hand drawn back to her chest. They stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity before Kiseki drew her mouth in a straight line, picked up her bag, and went through the door, slamming it behind her. 


	9. Obsession Builds

Well, it seems that everyone either felt sorry for Kiseki or wanted to kick Kaiba's butt xD but no one seemed to notice the fact that Unishiwa had Kiseki's address even though he told Seto himself that teachers weren't allowed to have any more than their numbers! Oh well =] I was happy for the reviews you guys gave! Here's the next chapter; 'tis rather long, and there is a small section in the middle that I wrote while I was in a VERY weird mood, so you all are forewarned. You'll pick it out rather easily I think. Have fun!

Shock. Kiseki felt nothing else as she walked down the street with a fast pace, her hand clenching her bag so hard that her knuckles turned bone white.   
  
Her mother had hit her. Nothing could compare to the turmoil she was feeling inside herself. She and her mother had had their share of fights, but never had she… The girl shook her head again and again to try to drive away the thought, but it still remained; her cheek still stung as though someone kept driving a red-hot poker into it. She didn't know where she was going, nor did she care, as long as her mother was far behind. She could feel a new feeling breeding in her chest as she kept thinking about it.  
  
Hate.  
  
As she walked on, she raised a hand to gingerly prod at her cheek before throwing it back down angrily, her teeth gritting. _Mama could never accept me for what I was… She thinks she knows the pain I went through… if she knew anything she wouldn't have told whoever it was about me…_ She closed her eyes as her anger started to rise. _Why did she hit me? She was being stupid! I had every right to scream at her! When word spreads, I'll get hurt again! And it will be all her fault!_ Part of her thoughts turned to fear for a brief moment. _Whoever it was will tell everyone… it'll reach someone terrible… I might get—_  
  
Her thoughts were rudely interrupted when she ran into someone on the street rather hard, nearly knocking him over. She stumbled and came to a halt, nearly yelping out in surprise as she saw Unishiwa turn around, a fresh cup of coffee now spilt on the front of his shirt.   
  
"S-sensei!" she stuttered out. "I'm—I'm so sorry!" She hastily bowed to him. "I wasn't watching where I was going!"  
  
Unishiwa blinked and his brow furrowed as she stood up to apologise again, revealing how flushed her face was, as well as her darkened cheek. "Kiseki!" He cut her off, raising a hand and almost putting it on her cheek before drawing it back. "Did something happen after I left?"  
  
She froze, her mouth slightly open. "…a-after you…left?" Her eyes went wide. "You were the one who was—I—I have to go!" She made to push past him, but he reached out and got a hold of her arm.  
  
"Kiseki, please!" he said urgently. "Don't feel embarrassed—"  
  
"I'm not! Let me go!" she pleaded, trying to pull out of his grip.  
  
"If you're worried about me finding out, don't be," he said, lowering his voice to a normal level, trying to keep her calm. "I don't mind it at all, Kiseki; I have several good friends who are that way. Do you hear?"  
  
She turned her face to him; it was now pale again, making the mark on her cheek stand out more prominently. Her lips opened and closed a few times as she stared at him. "…No one has… ever said that to me before…" she said after a few moments. Her worried expression came over her again and she in turn got a hold of the front of his shirt, some of the coffee dripping out as she grasped the fabric. "Please, Sensei, don't tell anybody about it… I… I don't want anyone else to find out… please…." Her eyes begged him in a way he had never seen before, though the words by themselves were enough to convince him; they were so laced with fear that he instinctively put his hand over hers and squeezed it gently.  
  
"I swear I will not," he said, giving her a reassuring smile. "I said you could trust me as someone you could talk to when you were in trouble and I meant it."  
  
She suddenly threw herself into his arms; he nearly stumbled back, but he wrapped his arms about her and held her close to him to calm her shaking. "C'mon… let's get you back to school," he whispered, ushering her gently down the street. She nodded and sniffed loudly; they walked towards the school, the people around them looking on with bemused expressions on their faces for a few moments before going on with their lives.

---------------------------  
  
Kiseki could barely focus on her work for the few classes she had left, especially in the first after lunch, seeing as how Seto was in it. She had to keep herself from shredding her papers to bits in her nervousness, but she reminded herself that she'd be seeing Unishiwa after school and felt slightly calmer. Unishiwa... As the teacher went on about history, she started to think to herself.  
  
_He seems like a genuine person… but… why did I believe him when he found me?_ The teacher handed them all worksheets and then sat down behind her desk to start working. Kiseki picked up her pencil and quietly tapped it upon the paper as everyone started writing. _I don't trust anyone… what's so different about the sensei? He said that I could talk to him when I needed to just like the others did, but… something tells me that he really means it… he did say that he has some friends like that after all. Still…_ She frowned, her pencil stopping in its movement. _I don't know why I acted like that when I ran into him… I've never accepted someone's assurance that fast… _  
  
She kept thinking about it, not once working on her paper, and when the bell rang she stood up to go to her science classroom. Taking a quick glance back, she saw Kaiba busy typing on his laptop as he usually was. As she made her way to the next period, she had thought of the answer to her self-questioning.   
  
_Because I was vulnerable._

_-----------------------------------------------------_

  
  
When Kiseki left, Seto closed his laptop and stood up to move to his next class in the computer lab. He had seen the mark upon Kiseki's face and had been thinking about where it could have come from throughout the whole class period. Deciding he could just find out from her directly after school, he sat down at his computer and signed in. He knew that today, like all other days, they'd be doing simple activities that were like walking to him. He usually got the assignment done less than halfway through the period and would spend the rest of the time doing something within his interest level, and today he chose hacking. Not just any hacking, however.   
  
He was going to hack into the school files.  
  
The teacher was one that didn't take heed of what the students were doing as long as they did their assignments on time, so as he sat as his desk and graded papers, Seto was free to do whatever he pleased. Not five minutes after he had opened up the computer's main hard drive, he had cracked the password into the student files and typed in "Akai Kiseki".  
  
His eyes narrowed as he read her profile, and he took out a disc from his briefcase, sticking it into the computer. Dragging the file onto the disc, he saved it and the computer ejected it once it was done. Pocketing it, he read it through on the monitor a few times. Halfway through the third time, he stopped.  
  
_What am I doing?_ he thought suddenly to himself.  
  
As the clicking of keyboards went on, he did not move or think as that question resonated in his head. _Why the hell do I need this information to get a card from her? This has her description, her birthdate, her origin…_ He raised a slender finger and ran it down the screen as he looked over the information. _United States of America…_ He sat back, remembering how he had once tried to learn some English when he was younger, only to drop it, deciding it was a completely screwed up language. Shaking his head, he closed the profile and drew out the disc in his pocket, staring at it.  
  
_Why do I need this?_  
  
_I don't._ Though somehow, he couldn't throw it away. He just stared at it for the longest time, telling himself that there was a trash can inches away from his workstation, but he did not make any movement to it. He knew not how much time had passed as he sat there, but when the bell rang out at the end of the period, it scared him half to death. He remembered that he had planned to meet Kiseki as she was coming out of her class, as he now knew where it was, and quickly stood up, cursing at himself for wasting time.  
  
As he walked towards her classroom, his mind went to focus upon getting the card from her. This time… this time she would give it to him. He pocketed whatever it was that was in his hand as he reached the door and stood by it, waiting for her. She came out after everyone else, and he drew back to conceal himself in the horde of students as she passed. He noticed that she looked somewhat relieved and smirked. That look wouldn't be lasting long.   
  
He followed her out of the building from a distance, but before she could go to the next one, he caught up with her and came up by her side. As he brushed up against her arm, she let out a startled yelp and he inconspicuously bumped her out of the swarm of students and tugged her behind a wall, out of sight. He once again had her by the arm in a surprisingly strong grip and glared down at her as she looked up at him, grimacing slightly.  
  
"Have you changed you mind yet, kohai?" he hissed at her, putting his briefcase down with a loud clunk.  
  
"Kaiba—please, you're hurting me," she practically whimpered, trying to maneuver her arm away from him, but he merely tightened his grip and pulled her closer to him.  
  
"You didn't answer my question. Have you changed your mind?" he repeated sternly.  
  
Tears began to surface in her eyes and she looked away from him, biting her tongue to keep from crying out. "…I—I don't have it with me…" she barely whispered.  
  
"Liar."   
  
"I don't!" she said a little louder, turning back to him, a few tears falling form her eyes. "It's at home on my easel!"  
  
"Oh, so you're an artist?" he sneered.   
  
"I –I paint..." She was starting to get angry as she lost feeling in her fingers and flexed them slightly, only bringing a sharp tingle up her arm. "Will you let me go?" she cried.  
  
He smirked and clenched his hand so tight that she yelled out in pain. "No." He leaned toward her and whispered in her ear, his hot breath making her shiver. "I decided not to tell anyone about your little secret…but… if you don't bring that card tomorrow…"  
  
Before he could finish his threat, Kiseki could not bear the pain any more and brought her other hand up to try to pry his off her arm. He froze. Her hand was so warm and soft… His hand faltered in its grip, which gave her the opportunity to wrench him off her and shove a hand into his chest to knock him back as she ran away form him. He stumbled back mainly out of surprise, but he watched as she ran across the now empty grounds and out the gate, slightly infuriated that he had lost his ground so easily.  
  
Kiseki ran on, to where she did not know, her meeting with Unishiwa forgotten. 

-------------------------------------  
  
A short while after, she was in the museum of the town, panting and clutching her bag to herself again. Glancing behind her, she walked into the building, taking a somewhat relaxed sigh as the air conditioning blew over her. Making her way through, she followed the signs to the Egyptian exhibit and her face brightened considerably when she walked in on it.   
  
There was gold everywhere, lighting the room seemingly with its own light. As she made hey way around the glass cases, she had to keep herself from pressing her nose onto the smooth protector to get a better look at everything. She was so content and relieved to be somewhere she loved that she left all her worries behind her on the front step of the museum, and busied herself with taking in all that she possibly could of the most amazing things she had ever seen. Moving from case to case, she couldn't help but smile at the wonderful craftsmanship that was presented, and paused when she came to a mummy.   
  
It was laid out upon a slab of concrete; all of the belongings that had been buried with it were separated form it, including its sarcophagus. She narrowed her eyes at the incompetence of the diggers and put a hand on the case of the mummy, the other going to the case of its golden coffin. Closing her eyes slightly, she wondered what she was doing, but somehow she felt she wanted to… like she wanted to reconnect the being with its place of sanctity. _Things like this should have been left in the ground,_ she thought, opening her eyes up again. _We make graveyards for people to rest in peace forever; how would we like it if people in the future dug up our ancestors and put them out for all to see? It's despicable. At least leave the person in their place… _  
  
Feeling awkward and slightly angered, she decided to leave. Had she not come upon the mummy, she would have stayed there for the entire afternoon, but something about it made her want to leave. Once she got outside, she started walking again; her mind kept thinking about what it would be like to be separated from something that was supposed to be with you forever. She didn't want to dwell on it, but in a way she didn't want to stop. Her subconscious drove her in circles as she arrived at the same questions over and over again, not getting anywhere. All she could say for sure was that the person should have stayed where it was and not taken out of where it should have been.  
  
She stopped on the street as she realised with a start that she had been heading home. Shaking her head, the mummy was driven out of her mind as all her worries caught up with her again. Turning back, she saw the little park that was down the street from her house and decided to sit and think for a while. Dropping her bag beside her, she sat and leaned her back against a tree, settling herself down. She checked her watch and saw that it was still only about 4:30, which gave her plenty of time to calm herself down. Turning her eyes to the sky in front and above her, they unfocused as her thoughts began to swim about, drowning out all other noises and distractions around her.

-----------------------------------------  
  
(A.N.-- this is the weird part; get ready!)  
Seto had gone home after confronting Kiseki, deciding on the way there that he would go to her house and get the card himself. As he started to change into his elaborate outfit, he heard something clatter to the floor. Turning around, he saw the disc with Kiseki's profile on it and picked it up, wondering how it had found its way into his pocket again. Again he stood, knowing he didn't need it, but then he told himself that he'd need it to find her house, so he sat at the desk in his room and pushed it into his laptop. As the screen flickered on, he crossed his legs and tapped his fingers on the mahogany desk, feeling impatient. Though he only had his pants on at this point, he didn't think about it as the computer whirred and clicked away. Once it had started up, he opened up the file and read it over, inputting her address into a navigation system. The directions flowed out, the dark lines extending themselves across the screen and the light projecting onto his face. Memorizing the way, he closed the program and took to reading her information again.   
  
He paused on her date of birth and frowned as his mind began to calculate. _She's turning a year older in two days… 1988… she'll be turning 16 in two days…_ He typed that in next to her name, and went on to read some more. He didn't think about why, he just felt like it. His mind once again lost track of time, and his eyes trailed onto her picture. She wasn't smiling. Her eyes looked saddened, but they were so deep and blue, he got lost in them.  
  
He found himself back on the school grounds; he had Kiseki by the arm again. But she was looking up at him with something other than fear in her eyes… it was… it was something like… warmth. He even noticed as a small smile formed upon her lips, and she put a hand on his cheek, making his eyes go wide. What was he doing here? Why wasn't she trembling from his cold gaze? Why was she even trying to look happy? His thoughts were brought to a halt as she gently pulled him toward her and pressed her lips softly against his, her hand going behind his head to run through his hair. His eyes were still open as she stopped moving as though someone had pressed pause, not drawing back nor going any further. He couldn't begin to comprehend the rush of feelings and emotions her touch brought to the surface, but he remained as well, unsure as to what the hell he was doing, just sitting there and letting her kiss him.   
  
His head dropped and suddenly he was back in his bedroom. He had drifted off with his cheek resting upon his hand and he blinked a few times to reinstate himself in his own body and pushed his chair back and away from the desk. Once he was fully awake, he became dimly aware of a warm sensation and looked down at himself. For only a second he thought furiously that he had somehow wet himself, then realising what it really was; he cursed and stood up to change into another pair of pants.

-----------------------------------------  
  
"Kiseki?"  
  
_I am Kiseki… I don't want to be… don't call me that…_  
  
"Kiseki…"  
  
_Leave me be… I don't want to talk to anyone… I want to be alone… _  
  
"Hey, Kiseki."   
  
She jumped as someone put their hand on her shoulder. Looking up, she saw Unishiwa.   
  
"I was just on my way to your house to see if everything was ok; you didn't show up for our meeting after school," he said, concern apparent in his eyes.  
  
Reality flooded back to her like a sharp blow to the head. "Oh… I'm sorry sensei… I forgot about it…"  
  
"It's quite alright, I was just worried that something else had happened to you." He knelt down so that he could be somewhat at eye level with her. "I thought you might be at home."  
  
She shook her head. "I wouldn't be at home…" she murmured.  
  
"Oh? Why not?" he asked.  
  
"I don't want to talk about it." She put her head on her knees, curling up slightly.  
  
He paused, wondering whether he should pry. He decided against it. "Well, are you going to go home later on tonight?"  
  
"I don't know."  
  
"Then… you don't know where you'll be staying for the night?"  
  
"I don't."  
  
"If you want—" He cut himself off, biting his lip. He wondered how he was supposed to convey what he wanted to offer without sounding pushy or… something else he didn't need to think about at the moment. Instead he squeezed her shoulder gently. "If you decide not to go home… my place is open to you. I live down the street from the school in the Hinachi apartments, next to the restaurant—"  
  
He stopped and turned his head to look somewhere behind them; he could have sworn he heard a rustle in the trees. Nothing made a movement, however, and Kiseki's voice drew him back to the situation at hand.  
  
"No thank you, sensei; I'll find my own place to stay."   
  
"Are you sure?" he asked, trying to lean down to look at her.  
  
Not lifting her head, she made a small noise of affirmation.  
He squeezed her shoulder again. "Just remember that if you need someplace to go, come and find me, alright?"  
  
She stayed still, not looking at him. "I would like to be alone, sensei," she said quietly.  
  
He nodded and stood up, looking down at her for a moment before turning away and going down the street to go home. Seto narrowed his eyes as the teacher left, then turning his attention to Kiseki. He had almost been spotted; had he been wearing his normal array of clothing, Unishiwa would have seen him.  
  
He had decided not to take a limo, as that would have been too conspicuous. He didn't put on his trench coat; rather, he was only dressed in a black shirt and dark slacks. Leaning around the tree behind which he was concealed, he saw that the professor was now out of sight, and focused upon Kiseki. _She's not going home… I wonder why, he thought. It probably had something to do with the mark on her cheek… maybe…_ He realised with a start that her parents might have hit her. _But why?_ he wondered. _It doesn't seem like she's been abused before; most people like that try to hide their bruises…_ He paused, confused slightly as to why he was thinking so hard about her and not the card he wanted.  
  
Kiseki finally raised her eyes to look over her arms at the horizon, now darkening slightly as sunset approached. She clenched her hands, knowing that she had been too short and blunt with Unishiwa when he was just trying to help. _But… I can't help it… I get in a weird mood whenever I sit and think for too long…_ She still felt guilty, but chose to watch the colour of the sky change with the time, her thoughts continuing to unwind.   
  
_Everything has happened to me all at once since I came here… gods, I haven't even been here for a week yet and everything's crashing and burning already… I wanted to get away from all that… it's too much like back home… I wish it would just—_She shut her eyes and curled up again. _I wish it would just disappear! Go away! I want to be alone! Why is everything happening to me? I want… I want… I want to just disappear… _  
  
Seto watched as the girl started shuddering with stifled sobs, and almost smirked at it, but stopped himself. _Why is she crying?_ He suddenly got the urge to go over and make her stop, but he wouldn't let himself move. He just sat and watched her cry. Half of him said that if she was crying, she was crying because she'd figured out that she'd have to give up the card… half said that she was crying because of something else.   
  
Thunder sounded overhead and he looked up to see clouds covering the sky; not long after, heavy rain drops began coming down in torrents. Only when the raindrops landed on her did Kiseki look up, squinting her already wet eyes at the sky. She slowly picked up her bag and started to walk out of the park, not caring about the rain at all. Seto looked after her for a few moments before taking out his phone and calling for a ride back.  
  
Kiseki walked on in the diminishing light as the sun finished its journey and the clouds took over. All the people on the street were hurrying to get inside; she just wanted to walk. Before long, she was soaked through and through, her hair matted down to her hung head. Her body gave an involuntary shiver, making her realize how cold she felt. Wrapping her arms about herself, she walked on, passing by the school and only giving it a glance before walking on. She soon realised that she'd need to find a place to keep from freezing to death, and glanced ahead through the pouring rain. A small restaurant loomed out, and when she came upon it, she saw that it didn't look too sanitary inside. Before she walked on, however, she saw the sign for Hinachi Apartments.   
  
Pausing, she looked at the list of names by the door and saw "Unishiwa Kabau" next to number 509. She bit her lip, staring at it, and the sky overhead boomed with thunder, making her jump. Shooting a glance behind her, she shivered again, rubbing her hands up and down her arms and shaking from the cold. She turned her eyes again to the list of lessees, grit her teeth, and buzzed #509.  



	10. Reliving the Past

Hey all! I'm updating again! And this chapter's pretty long! Yay! :cheers are heard vaguely in the distance: 

**Goddesskali: **Heh, I think all teenagers like Seto who are stalking someone are hormonal bastards ; I'd love to hear the song about it! Glad to know you can empathize with Kiseki, that's so cool!

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**Kristen: **Wowie, I had no idea that chapter was so creepy for you =] and it's good to know you're not insane; thanks for telling me!

**Kikoken: **:blushes really bad: You think my story is that good? That's wonderful, arigato gozaimasu :glomps:

**EvilTortureGirls and Dragons of Life: **I'm glad to know you guys are enjoying my story! Arigato for your reviews! 

And onwards! For those of you who felt sorry for Kiseki in previous chapters, this one's pretty sad and deep, so just a little forewarning. Don't worry, I was sure to include at least one scene with Seto in it =].

Chapter 10- Reliving the Past

"Hey Dad… Mom… I wanted to let you know I found a place to stay. Don't worry about me; I won't be coming home for tonight… I'll call you again tomorrow…"

Kiseki slowly hung up the phone and didn't move for a short time, staring down at the hand still on the receiver. Unishiwa put a hand on her back.

"That was good, Kiseki…" he said softly. She nodded silently in response.

Unishiwa had been somewhat surprised to hear Kiseki's voice come through the buzz box a few minutes before but had just as quickly gone down to get her himself. She now sat with a towel wrapped around her shoulders, and he stood up to get her a dry shirt. She was wearing her white one and he hated keeping himself from looking at her bra, which was extremely obvious and distracting through her wet shirt. When he came back with a collared shirt from his drawer, she had not moved at all excepting the fact that her hand was now back in her lap and she was picking at her nails.

He handed her the shirt and she took it, then going into his bedroom and changing. She went into his closet and found a hanger to put her damp shirt on, then hanging it from a place on the door. When she came back out, Unishiwa was in the kitchen, rummaging around for something. She rolled up the long sleeves of the shirt and came into the tiled room, leaning slightly around him to see what he was doing. He turned around with some bowls in his hands and smiled at her.

"I thought you might be hungry, Kiseki. Do you like rice?"

She smiled. "I do; do you want any help, sensei?"

He made a shooing movement at her. "Even if I did, I wouldn't accept it. Go sit; this'll only take a little while."

Kiseki laughed and sat down at the table, attempting to adjust her skirt so that it wouldn't get the chair too damp. She was still fidgeting when Unishiwa came over with two glasses of water and sat down across from her; he smiled as she picked up her glass and began to drink, still gingerly tugging at her skirt with her other hand.

"I would give you a dry skirt to change into, Kiseki, but I don't feel like going to find my secret stash of them." 

She choked slightly on her water and gulped it down, laughing even harder as she wiped away some of it from her chin. "I don't want to know what you like to do in your spare time," she said, coughing slightly to get the rest of the water out of her windpipe.

Unishiwa chuckled as well. "Though I think I have some shorts you could wear for the time being if you want."

"I don't mind my skirt being wet, unless you mind your chair getting damp from it," she said."No, not at all."

She started picking at her nails again and she looked down with a sort of saddened smile. "People were giving me odd looks today because I didn't have my uniform…"

"Well, at least you didn't forget that coffee was spilled down your shirt until halfway through one of your lessons when someone pointed it out to you," he said, starting to chuckle again. "But, I'm sure there'll be a spare you can use tomorrow, unless you feel like you can drop by your house and get your own."

She paused. "I don't think I want to go home for a while…"

"Would you mind terribly if I asked the reason of you again?"

She shook her head, still looking at her hands. "You're letting me stay here; I think I owe it to you anyway." She took a deep breath. "After you left… my mother and I had a fight over what she told you. I felt that she had been wrong in telling you something that has gotten me in trouble in the past and… she wanted to make me believe that no harm would come of it. It escalated and… well…" She raised a hand to her cheek again. It was no longer red, but she still felt exactly where the blow had landed. 

Unishiwa immediately figured what had happened and put a hand on hers. "I understand why you left, Kiseki, and you are more than welcome to stay here for as long as you need to, but… I don't think you should stay here too long. The reason the answering machine picked up at your house was probably because your parents were out looking for you. Even though your mother hit you, she's regretting it now. I think you should go back sometime soon."

"I know that. Thank you, sensei."

He sat up, drawing his hand back and folding his arms on the table. "How did you being bisexual get you into trouble before? In America?"

Her eyes darted up to him, surprised at how straight forward the question was. He laughed quietly and looked away, closing his eyes. "I'm sorry… I didn't mean to sound so direct. It's just—" He turned his eyes to her again. "I've been wondering about a lot of things, and I think that that might be somehow related to it. But, if you don't feel comfortable telling me about it, I won't ask any more until you decide to tell me."

She looked behind him and nodded to the rice steamer in the kitchen. "When will that rice be done?"

"What?"

"How long will it be until that's finished?" she repeated.

He turned to look at it as well. "It should be done in about fifteen minutes or so." He turned back to her. "Why do you ask?"

She sighed. "I didn't know whether I should start or wait until it was done…" She gave a quiet laugh. "And partially as a weak attempt to change the subject, I guess."

"Do you want to tell me?" 

"I feel like my chest is about to burst with how long I've been keeping it in, considering I haven't told anyone before… is that a sign that I do?"

"It could be, Kiseki."

"Whether it is or not…" She inhaled again and began, her eyes trailing back down to her hands. 

"I didn't always know that I had feelings like that. I was about 13 when I realised that I liked a friend of mine more than what I had originally thought. For a while, I couldn't accept it. I told myself over and over again that it was just because Jenny and I had been friends for so long… but I couldn't drive the feeling away. For about six months I battled with it, and as soon as I began to mature, I started… I started thinking harder about what I really was feeling about her. Before I knew it, I could barely keep myself from looking at her like she was someone I was sleeping with… I couldn't handle the ideas that were flying through my head, but about halfway through my eighth grade year, I had accepted that I was bisexual.

"Once that was settled, I felt like I could start to live normally again. After all… now that I had my mind off it, I had a much easier time hiding what I felt for Jenny, as well as for other women that I felt attracted to. One day, I was in a terrible mood. I had no idea why… I just felt like punching my hand through a wall, like I wanted to kill something. The friends that I had immediately picked up on it and met with me after school to talk with me about it. After talking to them for a while… I felt much better, and they ended the conference by telling me that whenever I needed someone to talk to, they would be there to listen. I greatly appreciated it, but I never told them how I felt about Jenny. I just wasn't ready.

"By my freshman year in high school, I decided to finally tell them. But… I felt that I had to tell Jenny first, since she was the basis of the discovery about myself. I asked to meet her at her house, and of course she gladly accepted. That afternoon… I was a wreck. I was so nervous about revealing something about myself that I had never told anyone; not even my parents knew. Jenny noticed my odd attitude and sat us down at her kitchen table so that we could talk. I couldn't get the words out, and… she smiled in the way that I loved so much and held my hands, telling me again that whatever I wanted to say, she was going to listen. I felt slightly more confident, but the words still didn't come. She said to use a simple phrase at first to get my thoughts going, so I cast around in my head for something to describe the overwhelming feeling I had in my heart. I could only think of one thing, and when I looked into her eyes again, I remember thinking how beautiful she was… I said the simple little phrase that came into my head: _'…I love you, Jenny…'_ " She spoke the words in English, but from her facial expression, Unishiwa would have known what the words were had she spoken them in any other language.

Kiseki shut her eyes and clenched her hands, a few tears running down her face. "I'll never forget the look on her face when I said that. She didn't move… I didn't move… We sat in silence for God knows how long… finally… she took her hands off mine… and walked out of the room without a word. I heard her go into her bedroom, but I couldn't hear any more after that. Instantly I regretted telling her… she had looked downright terrified… confused… shocked… I decided to leave afterward. The next day at school, she wouldn't even look at me. And after about a week, almost all of my friends had stopped speaking to me. I assumed that she had told them, and they seemed to be going through the same reaction that she had had. I felt even worse, and would often cry myself to sleep, angry that I had disrupted what was supposed to be an everlasting friendship with something so trivial. Before long, I would occasionally hear whispers or rumors about me in the halls… and that's when it happened.

"I was walking to the store to get groceries for my mom one afternoon… we lived in the city, so I was accustomed to walking alone. No one had ever bothered me before. I got the groceries and walked out of the store… that's where they confronted me. It was a group of people from my school that was involved in a street gang, and before I could react, they had dragged me behind the store, out of sight of the street. I only remember cowering against the dumpster as they started taunting me… calling me a dirty fag… a whore… disgusting little lesbian… I couldn't bear it, and when I started crying, they increased their insults… I decided to try and make a run for it, but they wouldn't let me through. As I got more and more desperate, I tried swinging one of the grocery bags into one of them to knock him out of the way, but that only angered them…

"They formed a circle around me and started shoving me around, shouting and jeering at me… In my fright I made another mistake—I kicked one of them in the stomach. He fell… the guy beside him chose to punch me. I stumbled back… I could feel blood dripping down from my nose, but at that point I didn't care. I just wanted to get out of there. I started fighting with everything that I had. I injured a few of them, but I was being injured to a far greater degree… I got punched so many times that my mind began to shut down and I started flailing to try and get them away. That was when someone shoved me backwards.

"I don't remember feeling the blade go in… I just remember falling into someone and immediately sensing that something was wrong. The guy held me for a second before letting me fall the rest of the way to the ground… they all looked so frightened… they ran away and left me there as the store manager came running up… She had heard the shouts and screamed when she saw me lying in the back alley with a switchblade in my side. As I watched her run back inside to phone the police, I tried getting up… I still didn't realise what had happened, and it was only when I felt the blood flowing out of the wound that I saw it. I blacked out.

"I woke up in a hospital bed with my mother's head on my chest… my sheets felt damp underneath her. She had probably fallen asleep crying. It was dark outside, and I tried to sit up to look out the window, but that only brought a sharp pain in my side and I gasped, clutching at it. That woke my mother up. She practically lunged forward to hug me to her, and when I made another pained noise she immediately let go and put her hands on my cheeks, tears streaming down her face, praising everything that she could for me being alive. I asked her how long I had been there, and she said it had only been about a half a day, that it was almost 3 in the morning, and that I had been stitched up when I arrived. It was then that I realised how many bandages there were on me.

"I had one around my head, a brace on my nose, a few around my arms and legs, and a large one around my midsection. An IV was in my left arm, and I could see a few other bandages around that. My mother told me that they had given me blood because of how much I lost before I was taken to the hospital… Then she told me to go back to sleep; there would be an officer coming in the next day to talk to me. I asked her where my father was, and she said he had to go home and sleep; he couldn't afford to take any time off work. I went back to bed and she sat with me… I don't think she slept at all; she was still awake when I woke up the next day. She stayed for the interview and I relived everything for the police report they wanted to fill out about it. He asked me if I knew of any possible motive for the attack… and that was how my mother found out about it. I would have preferred to have told her under different circumstances, but… 

"After he left, she sat and pampered me when the nurses weren't there, and she never tried talking to me about my bisexuality. I guess it was sort of a shock to her, but she was hiding it very well, and I was grateful at the time. She eventually told my father later on; he didn't seem too comfortable with it either. I ended up switching schools, and it was then that I decided to ostracize myself from everyone… I didn't want to run the risk of something like that happening again. If someone would try to be friendly with me, I would ignore them or try to drive them away."

Kiseki finally looked up at Unishiwa and motioned him over. He came and knelt down beside her with the solemnest of looks upon his face, and she lifted up the shirt to reveal the scar on her side. "…I didn't want something like that to happen again… that's why I act the way I do… that's why I don't talk to people my age… why I despise them so much…"

Unishiwa surprised her when he suddenly straightened up and pulled her to him in a soft, yet firm embrace. She tensed up, her eyes wide, but his warmth calmed her down and she hesitantly reached her arm around him. "I'm so sorry, Kiseki…" he whispered. "I swear that while you are here, I won't let anything like that happen to you… I swear it…"

Tears sprang to her eyes at his words, and her hand grasped the back of his shirt tightly as she put her head on his shoulder, squeezing her eyes shut. She started to cry, holding him almost as strongly as he was her, and he gently rocked her back and forth, bringing up one of his hands to stroke her hair as he did so, letting her tears flow onto him. An overwhelming feeling of protection arose in him as they sat there together for a long time; the little bell signaling the finishing of the rice went unnoticed.

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Later on that night, they had eaten the cold rice and discussed other matters to brighten up the mood a little bit. Kiseki found out that Unishiwa wasn't from Japan, either; rather that he was from Belgium, and had come to Japan to satisfy his everlasting love for the culture and teaching. They talked about each of their homelands, describing the seasons and the wildlife. Before long, they had exhausted their memories and decided to go to bed.

He offered to sleep out on the couch while she slept in his room, and after some debating she agreed to it; he said it would be best since she would need her privacy. She now sat in his room, gazing out the window with an odd air about her. She had unrolled the sleeves of the shirt again—they went past her hands—and she decided that since the shirt was pretty long, that she would just sleep in that, considering the fact that she was in a closed room. The window was open, and she had undone the shirt a little in the front to let the breeze flow into it as she looked out into the night. She had been thinking about everything that had happened to her since she arrived, realising after a while how strange her situation was at the moment.

She was away from her parents in a foreign country, sleeping in a man's house—her teacher's house. He was the first person she had ever opened up to after her incident in the United States, he was the first person to come forward and give her support for what she was. She was in his shirt, in his bedroom, while he slept out on the couch in his living room. She would be sleeping in his bed. _The only thing that could possibly make this any stranger,_ she thought, a smile forming on her lips as she saw something in the distance. _…my idol. _The KC building was in view, and she smiled even wider at seeing the single office window alight once more. She sighed, a great feeling of calm flowing through her as she leaned upon the windowsill, watching the tiny light from afar.

Seto was busy again. He was making himself busy… working as hard as he could to get his mind off Kiseki. Ever since he had watched her cry to herself in the park, his mind had been driving him crazy. He wanted that card… he wanted to get it from her… he wanted to follow her until she gave it up to him… he wanted to watch her every move until he saw the opportunity to take it from her himself… He shook his head. _I don't need to follow her to get it. She'll give it to me herself,_ he told himself sternly. Typing furiously on his laptop, he worked on anything he could find that wasn't finished, but being the workaholic that he was, there was almost nothing to do. He paused as he thought around for something to fill in; one idea popped into his head.

Kiseki's profile.

_It doesn't need to be finished! _he thought to himself. _It's all filled out… but what about information they don't record? I don't need to put that in. There's no reason to… _He slammed his fist down upon his desk. _I _need_ to get my mind off her! She's coming tomorrow with the card, what else is there to think about? I need to work until I exhaust myself enough to go to bed without thinking anymore… _He cast around for something else to organize, fill out, fix… anything. For once he cursed at himself for being such a perfectionist—there was nothing left for him to do. _Except…_

__

He hesitantly opened up Kiseki's profile again and glared at it on the monitor. _This might be the only thing I can do… I'll work on it until I get too tired… then I'll go home and sleep… Though, I could just go home now and spend time with Mokuba… _He glanced at the clock in the corner of his laptop. _He's asleep by now… I can't wake him up. _His hands found their way back to the keyboard. _Screw it._His eyes travelled over the information for what seemed like the hundredth time, and he stopped in the space marked "Current Occupation(s): Student". He sat looking at it for a while, grit his teeth, and began to type.

_"Current Occupation(s): Student/Artist."_

Kiseki did not know for how long she stared at the little office in the distance, but she could feel a growing love for the person inside. She wondered who they were, what they did for a living, why they chose to stay up night after night all alone. Isolated from everyone while they worked long into the night. She liked that. She had come to the conclusion that she considered them to be some sort of hero to her, and yearned to meet them someday.

_Though,_ she thought, finally leaning back and looking at the ground. _I already have a hero here… _She stood up and quietly slid open the door to the bedroom, going into the kitchen to get herself a glass of water. On her way back, she slowed down as she passed the couch.

Unishiwa was curled up on it and without a blanket, so she went into the bedroom and took off one from the bed, bringing it back to his sleeping form. "Thank you, sensei…" she whispered, softly draping the blanket over him before smiling and returning to the bedroom to get some rest.

As the last sounds from her died away, Unishiwa slightly opened his eyes to stare out into the dark living room. He glanced down at the blanket and drew it close to him, sighing. 

_She smelled so sweet…_

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Oh, as a little side note for those of you who instantly go and read anything I publish (I'm not complaining, believe me!!), be sure to watch out for a new fic this weekend about Malik's past! It's pretty dark so far, so be sure you can handle stuff like that! :smacks self: Who am I kidding, of course you can!! Ja' ne!


	11. Morning of Emotions

Hey all, sorry it took me so long to update; last weekend I was at a leadership camp for marching band and couldn't exactly get to a computer. My last full week of summer is over with already :sniff sniff: Two weeks of marching band camp coming up and then it's back to school!

I'm glad to know you all liked the last chapter and I loved the reviews; makes me even more excited about getting this written and posted. I've had the ending in my head ever since I started the first chapter, and judging by how you all reacted to Kiseki's past, you'll like it a lot. Well! I'm babbling. I hope you guys will keep on reading and reviewing! It makes me so happy! Yes, I know, I'm sad =P. :gives everyone a Seto plushie: Oh and-- :gives Jon a Kiseki plushie:

Chapter 11: Morning of Emotions

Kiseki was awakened the next morning by the radio alarm clock next to the bed, and she slowly opened her eyes to squint at it. It took a few minutes for the red numbers to register in her mind. _6……3……0…… 6:30? 6:30! _She groaned loudly and pulled the clock to her to look for the snooze button, pressing it with quite a lot of vehemence before putting the clock back on the nightstand.

She was still wide awake when it went off ten minutes later, so she sighed and turned it off, getting up and stretching. She went into the closet in front of the bed and looked around for a robe and towel; within minutes she slid open the door and walked out with a green robe wrapped about her and a white towel hung over her arm. Walking over to the couch, she leaned over Unishiwa and debated about how to wake him up. After whispering his name a few times and not getting a reaction, she got frustrated and poked him in the arm rather hard.

He snorted quietly and then squinted his eyes open, casting around for a few seconds before realising what had gotten him up. He couldn't see Kiseki that well, so he reached around and put on his glasses, then yawning and looking at her again. "Why… my robe?" he asked, confused in his half-awake state.

"May I use your shower, sensei?" she asked slowly, trying to get the message across the first time to him.

He rubbed a hand over his face and grunted an affirmation as he sat up. "What time is it?"

"About 6:40," she replied. "I don't know why you have your alarm set that early, but I'm up now."

"Oh, sorry about that. I usually wake up early to make myself a big breakfast…" he muttered, getting up and stretching out his back with a muffled pop. "Well!" He put his hands on his hips, smiling down at her. "What do you want for breakfast, Kiseki?"

She was slightly taken aback, but pondered it anyway. "Do you have pancakes?"

He nodded and then put a hand on her shoulder to turn her around. "Now go get washed up while I take care of that; it should be ready in about a half an hour."

She nodded and went into the bathroom. As quiet clangs emitted from the kitchen, she looked at herself in the mirror for a moment, focusing upon how stressed she looked. There were bags underneath her eyes in spite of the fact that she had slept quite well the night before, but she shrugged it off and turned on the shower. The warm water soothed her slightly, and she almost lost herself in the feeling before shaking her head and spraying some water on the tile around her, waking herself up a little more. As she began to clean herself, she jumped slightly at feeling a pain on her arm when she rubbed her hand over it. She looked down to discover that a rather large bruise had formed overnight and realised with a start that that was where Seto had grabbed her the day before.

Once she was done, she stepped out and grabbed the towel, wrapping it about her and merely running a hand through her damp hair a few times to get most of the water out. She took the robe and the shirt and draped them over her shoulder, opening up the door. Right before going into the bedroom, she saw Unishiwa busy at cooking and he turned slightly at the noise of the door. She raised her hand in a little wave and he smiled back before returning his attention to cooking again a little fast.

Kiseki walked into the room and slid the door closed, turning to look at the window, through which the first rays of sunrise were flowing. She walked to it, inhaling the morning air fresh with the scent of damp earth. Deciding that Unishiwa seemed to be the type of person who'd spend a lot of time perfecting whatever he was cooking, she leaned on the windowsill to stare out at the damp Domino landscape.

Unishiwa had been waiting for Kiseki to come out of the bathroom as he cooked, as he needed to use it somewhat urgently. He completely forgot about the need for a moment when he saw Kiseki in nothing but a towel, but shook it off and made sure everything was still all right before walking into the bathroom, closing the door. When he was done, he started to wash his hands; something caught his eye.

On the floor was Kiseki's underwear. He froze at the sight of it, the water continuing to flow over his hands. _She must have forgotten to take it with her when she was done,_ he thought to himself, drawing his mouth in a straight line. He finished washing his hands and dried them off with a hand towel hanging beside the sink, shooting glances at the piece of cloth. He stood and looked at it again, wondering whether he should take it to her.

But that's as far as his thinking went. He could only think of the question. He got down on one knee and hesitantly reached out for it before stopping his hand, slightly outstretched. Trying again, he got about three inches away from the fabric before drawing his hand back fully and standing up. _She'll realise it's gone,_ he thought, pulling open the door with a flourish and going out on his balcony. He paused, thinking it'd be best if she got her undergarments sooner than later.

"Kiseki!" he called.

The girl jerked out of her stupor and looked around. "Yes, sensei!"

"Breakfast will be ready in a short while!"

"Oh ok! I'll be out in a minute!" She got up and took her now dry clothes off their hangers and stopped, casting around for her underwear. After looking under her clothes and through Unishiwa's robe and towel, she wrapped the towel about herself again and came out to go into the bathroom, grabbing the piece of fabric and tucking it away in the folds of the towel before coming back out to return to the bedroom. She got fully dressed and came out, folding down the neck of her white shirt as she did so, taking an approving sniff at the air.

"Wow, sensei, that smells wonderful," she said, flipping out her skirt to sit upon the cushion at the table. She looked around and didn't see him at the stove, so she called out. "Sensei?"

He responded from outside, and she leaned over the table to look through the sliding door at him, surprised at seeing a cigarette between his pursed lips. "I didn't know you smoked," she said, making a confused face.

Unishiwa took it out and blew out a little smoke before looking back at her. "I don't," he said, chuckling slightly. "I only have one of these every now and then whenever I need to relax or distract myself from something or other."

She slightly nodded. "Well, it surprised me; most people who smoke really smell like it, but you don't."

"I try not to," he said, taking one last drag before stomping it out and coming back inside and washing his hands.

"That's good." She nodded to the stove, repeating herself. "That really smells good."

"Don't tell me how much you like it until you try it," he said with a chuckle, bringing over a few plates and setting them on the table.

Her face brightened as she took another whiff of the wonderful cooking, before lowering her eyes to the plates and casting around. "Are the pancakes not done yet?" she asked, looking at him.

Unishiwa had already begun to serve up his plate, and he pointed at a dish with his chopsticks. "Nope! They're right there, on that one."

Kiseki looked towards where he was pointing. It looked like a plate with a few tortillas on it, still slightly steaming. "Um… those are pancakes?"

"They're rice pancakes," he said, frowning slightly at her. "Was that not what you wanted?"

She picked one up and held it up, staring at it curiously. "I've never seen these before…" She took a small nibble of it and raised her eyebrows at finding that it tasted quite good. Glancing at Unishiwa again, she smiled. "In the U.S., our pancakes are made of flour and sugar; they're much thicker than these, and you usually drench them in syrup." She laughed and took another bite of it, chewing it thoughtfully with a bit of a sigh.

"Do you miss it there?" he asked, starting into his food.

A nod. "Though sometimes I wish I could never think of it again. I think if I were in Egypt I'd forget all about every other place I've lived."

He laughed. "I take it you like Egypt, then?"

She nodded again.

They continued breakfast in relative silence, enjoying the morning and the light streaming in from the rising sun. When they were done, it was nearly 7:45, so they decided to get a move on. Unishiwa took the dishes over to the sink, then going into his bedroom to get changed into some fresh clothing. When he came back out, Kiseki was raising the strap of her bag over her head and he saw the bruise upon her arm.

"Kiseki—" he said, reaching out and gently taking a hold of her arm, gazing at the dark blue splotch. "What happened?"

"Oh! That… yesterday when I was still at home I tripped and fell on it… I didn't expect it to be that bad, though." _No use in worrying him about Kaiba,_ she thought to herself.

"But it looks like the bruise goes nearly halfway around your arm…" he said, looking up at her again and raising an eyebrow.

She shrugged. "Don't ask me how that happened. I did hit it pretty hard, so it might have just spread."

He still looked at her as though he knew she wasn't telling the truth, but he shrugged his shoulders and let go of her, opening up the door. She stepped out after him and started down the stairs of the apartment, him locking the door behind them and following her down. When they reached the stairs, he stopped her and she turned to face him.

"It would be best if we arrived at the school at least from separate directions, Kiseki," he said seriously. "I don't believe that teachers are allowed to do what I'm doing, so I'm going to take an alternate route and meet up with you right around the same time you get there, ok?"

Kiseki nodded and started walking towards the school while Unishiwa went across the street and down another, disappearing.

As she walked, she didn't think about anything. She purposefully wiped her mind clean so that she could at least focus somewhat upon her classes when she arrived—it made her forget what the black limo in front of the school meant as she came in the gates.

Seto whipped his head around as he realised that Kiseki had passed right by his window, and he watched as she solemnly stopped in the near centre of the courtyard, just staring at the school. He wondered what she was doing, but a more important question arose in his mind. _Why did she come from the other direction? Did she not go home last night? _He scowled and got ready to open up his door to confront her, realising that if she hadn't gone home, she didn't have the card. He stopped upon seeing Unishiwa.

The professor saw Kiseki standing alone and came up behind her, reaching out to put an arm around her shoulders. She jumped and turned to him, her hands drawn up to her chest. "Sorry, Kiseki," he said with a slight laugh as he saw a hint of relief pass over her face.

He gently squeezed her shoulder. "Are you ok?"

She nodded and swallowed. "I was just… thinking, I guess."

"About what?"

"Well…" In truth she had been thinking about nothing at all; she had just felt a slight feeling of foreboding as she approached the building. "I don't know," she said after a moment.

"Are you worried about something?"

"I don't know. I feel funny."

"Well," he said, smiling down at her. "Today is Friday, and this year the school stopped classes on Saturdays, so you'll have the weekend coming up to get everything sorted out a little bit." She still looked slightly apprehensive, so he tried another idea. "I'm near you first period and during cleanup, so if you want we can meet for lunch in the middle, alright?"

She nodded and looked up at him with eyes that shined slightly. "…thank you, sensei…" she whispered.

Unishiwa pulled her to him and hugged her reassuringly, and she immediately put her arms around him in return. He glanced up from her shoulder to see that there was no one in the courtyard who'd be watching, but, seeing no one, he gave her a slight squeeze and slowly let go of her.

"You're going to be fine," he murmured to her. "Shall we?" He started towards the school and she looped an arm through his, falling in step beside him.

As they went through the doors, Seto could feel his hand tightening upon his briefcase. He had noticed that Unishiwa had also come from a different direction than he had seen before, and their little hug had confirmed his suspicions. _What the hell is he doing with her? He's a professor… she's a student… she's going to be 16 tomorrow! _He shook his head, opening up his door and shutting it a little harder than he needed to, causing the driver inside to flinch. As his limo drove away, Seto made his way across the courtyard, a new feeling brewing inside him.

He didn't know what it was. He had never felt it before, and the fact that it was over a girl was confusing him. The only thing he could compare it to would have been the first time that Yugi had beaten him… but this was far stronger. Shaking his head slightly, he pulled open the front doors of the school and stepped in, going to his locker. Once he had his things, he went to his classroom as students began to arrive.

Unishiwa and Kiseki were already seated, meaning Seto would have to save his talk to Kiseki for lunchtime. The professor looked up and practically glowered at him as he sat down, but Seto shot the exact same look back at him before opening up his briefcase to start typing on his laptop again. Kiseki missed the whole interaction, as she had taken to making random scribbles on her desk, her cheek resting upon her hand. Yugi and his friends came in shortly after and immediately stood around her, Yugi directly in front.

"Can we talk to you for a sec, Kiseki?" he asked.

She kept her eyes fixed upon her desk and her hand did not stop moving. "Why?"

He leaned in and whispered in her ear; she shrunk slightly away from him. "Kaiba's close by."

She raised an eyebrow at him, but, seeing as how she had nothing else to do, she stood up and followed the group out. Once out in the hallway, she leaned up against the lockers and surveyed them all with an apathetic expression, still trying to keep her mind from wandering onto the week's events.

"Where've you been, Kiseki?" Yugi asked worriedly.

"At home," she responded curtly.

"Why?"

Kiseki turned her eyes to the speaker, as it had been Anzu's obnoxious voice that had asked the question. She looked at the five before looking back at the tri-colour haired boy, wanting to smack him again for how concerned he looked. "I wasn't feeling well. Why do you care?"

Jonouchi spoke this time, though he lowered his voice, glancing somewhat angrily at the classroom door before leaning toward her. "Because Kaiba's been acting really weird since you were gone."

"I don't see your point."

The blonde slightly clenched his fist. "Because you were gone, that jerk—"

"Jonouchi!" Yugi whispered fervently, putting his hand on his friend's shoulder. "You agreed not to get angry…"

She straightened up slightly, furrowing her brow. "You talked about me while I was gone?" she asked, a slight hint of accusation climbing into her tone.

Yugi turned his eyes onto her again and nodded. "We were worried, is all."

"Right." She looked down the hallway again, only to be pushed back into the lockers by Jonouchi.

He leered at her, leaning in very close and hissing through his teeth. "Since you were gone, that psycho decided to go after Shizuka. He cornered her and tried to get her to tell him about the card he wants the first day you didn't show up."

Kiseki's eyes widened and she froze, looking at the boy as he went on, nearly shaking with anger. "I saw him and shoved him away from her; she ran off, crying her eyes out. It's because of you that she's terrified of being alone at school now—"

"Jonouchi!" said Honda, yanking him off her.

"It's because of you that my little sister is afraid! Just give him the damn card and end this before it gets someone else tangled in!" Jonouchi wrenched himself from Honda and stomped into the classroom, the eyes of his friends following him.

They looked back at Kiseki, who hadn't moved since he had let go of her. "Kiseki…" said Yugi, putting his hand out.

She did not react to him, her hands raised slightly in front of her, her eyes frozen upon the floor in shock. Before anyone could say anything else, she sharply turned away from him and went down the hallway without a glance back, heading towards the locker rooms. The group stared after her before looking at each other and hesitantly going inside the classroom.

Once inside, she went into a stall and heavily leaned against the wall of it, her hands coming up to her chin. She slowly sank down to the floor, Jonouchi's words echoing in her mind. _"…that psycho decided to go after Shizuka… It's because of you that my little sister is afraid!" _She shut her eyes, hoping to drown out his voice, but she slowly started to think that it _was_ her fault.

_If I hadn't shown the card to her… if I hadn't made it so damn obvious that I liked her… hell, if I'd just given him the card! _She clenched her fists, a few tears running down her face. _I should just give it to him already… Shizuka's not supposed to get hurt… no one is… it's a stupid card and I only wanted it for the picture! Selfishness never helped anyone! It's just hurting other people who shouldn't be involved! I'm… I'm… _She looked up from her knees slightly, making a straight face at the wall across from her. _I'm going to give it to him… I'll call my parents and get it to him so that he'll just leave Shizuka alone…_

Kiseki let her head fall back upon her knees, practically yelling at herself within her head… _It's my fault Shizuka is afraid now…_


	12. If

Whew.... yes, it is 12:45 in the morning, but I woke up about an hour ago and decided to finish this chapter up. It's a tad long, but more importantly, I must forewarn you guys-- this chapter is a big one. One of the most important ones in my story; my hands were shaking after I got done with it. Now that half of you have closed this window in fear, I bid you remaining people to read on.****

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**Chapter 12: If**  
  
Kiseki arrived a few minutes late, now adorned with the school uniform; she had made a trip to the office before she came. She quietly excused herself upon opening the door and sat down, turning her eyes up to the board and Unishiwa. He stared at her for a moment, confused at the saddened look upon her face, before turning back to teaching math.  
  
_I don't want to be here…_ she thought to herself as he did a few practise problems. _I want to go home… I wish I were back in the US… Daddy shouldn't have gone on this business trip and dragged Mama and me along… I'd have never found the card… I'd have never met Seto—_She stopped in her thinking. Her eyes were still on the board, her back still straightened with good posture, but her eyes were slightly unfocused. _…why did I just call him Seto?_  
  
The lesson finished and Unishiwa gave her a somewhat imploring look before he left to remind her about their meeting at lunch, and she gave a small bow of her head. As soon as his back had disappeared through the door, she let her head fall heavily upon her arms on the desk, an odd feeling of despair starting to well up in the pit of her stomach. _I don't want to give up the card… but… Shizuka's involved now because of it… I should have just given it to him in the first place…_  
  
Seto watched as she hunched her shoulders slightly, giving a deep sigh as she did so. It looked to him like her mood had worsened when she came back, and he wondered why. Throughout the remaining classes before lunch, he kept working on his laptop, his mind staying quite frequently to the slumped figure in the desk at the front of the classroom. The bell finally rung, and Kiseki slowly picked up her bag and made her way out. It was only when she reached the lunch area that she realised that she and Unishiwa had not designated where they would be meeting.  
  
Hardly reacting to it, she stood silently, trying to think of what he'd have in mind. The fact that she would have no food if she didn't find him didn't even pass over her. After almost a minute of not moving, she became vaguely aware that there were footsteps behind her, rapidly approaching. She turned to see Lokhai and her gang of preps in a half circle around her, and observed them with a blank expression.  
  
"Why were you crying, little kohai?" she sneered at Kiseki.  
  
"Why do you wish to know?" As soon as the redhead had opened her mouth, Kiseki could feel a small flame of anger arise within her. She would make Lokhai leave her alone.  
  
"Because you looked _so_ distressed, we thought it might have something to do with your precious Unishiwa."  
  
She scoffed. "How did you come to that conclusion? You're stupider than you look," she hissed; all the stress of the previous day seemed to be surfacing, and she had found the perfect target.  
  
Lokhai put her hand to her mouth in mock surprise. "Ooooohhhh… little kohai said 'stupid'. What next? _Darn_?" She and the other girls laughed.  
  
"Don't push me, you egotistical airhead…" Kiseki growled out, clenching her fists.  
  
Lokhai and her friends all put up their hands in front of them, backing away and making sarcastic frightened noises. Kiseki lost her temper and took a step forward, getting a hold on Lokhai's shirt and pulling her close, glaring at her. "Back. Off." She pushed the girl away and kept the scowl on her face pinned up.  
  
The one with blonde pigtails let out a laugh. "Lokhai-kun, I thought she was gonna kiss you!" she squealed.  
  
The prep straightened her top and put her hands on her hips, tilting her head to the side to look at Kiseki. "Aw, kohai, I know I'm hot, but I'm not your type! At least find out if someone's gay before you make a move on them!"  
  
"I—I wasn't trying to kiss you!" stuttered Kiseki. "You guys don't know a threat when you see one?"  
  
"Oh, this is good…" sneered Lokhai. "Wait 'till this gets out… Girls, meet the lesbian," she snickered, pointing at Kiseki.  
  
She could feel a slight rush in her cheeks as she stood up a little straighter. "I am not a lesbian!"  
  
"Right, sure! We believe you!" Two of the girls hugged each other and pretended to stroke each other, making weird noises with their tongues out, making the rest laugh even harder.  
  
"I'm NOT!" she shouted, disgusted by the pair.  
  
"Then make out with the next boy you see, we dare you!"  
  
"The next—" she cut off. "That's absurd! You're an idiot if you think I'd do something like that to prove my sincerity!"  
  
"Well then, without any proof—" Lokhai shrugged her shoulders, still grinning twistedly.  
  
"I don't need to prove anything to the likes of you!" With that, Kiseki stomped off; the girls laughed some more and then went to lunch with the epidemic of a rumor upon their lips.  
  
Kiseki could feel her anger boiling up inside her as she walked further to her usual spot beneath the trees, her nails digging into her palms from how hard she was clenching her fists. When she reached her place, she leaned heavily against one of the trees, brooding and staring at the ground. When footsteps once again reached her ears, she did not look up, keeping her eyes fixated upon the grass. It was only when she heard a cold voice that she broke out of her trance and raised her eyes to see Seto standing a few feet away from her with his arms folded.  
  
"Where is the card, kohai?" he asked.  
  
"I don't have it." Her apathy began to take over by instinct, knowing that if she flared out at him, she could get hurt.  
  
"Why not?" He knew perfectly well why not, but didn't feel like explaining to her why he did.  
  
"What's it to you?" She stood up slightly from the tree and faced him.  
  
"It's all that's keeping me from following you home and just taking it for myself."  
  
"Well I'm sorry you get that excited over a piece of paper, Kaiba—"  
  
"It is _not_ just a piece of paper!" His voice rose and he took a step towards her, making a cutting motion through the air in front of him as he threw his arms to his sides. "It is a symbol of power! Something that is worth more than anything else in the world of Duel Monsters! But of course, you are too ignorant to know about what that feels like, aren't you?" he finished, his ice-cold eyes ablaze.  
  
"What makes you think that I don't know? You think there's nothing like that that's important to me?" she asked in a whisper, her anger starting to surface again; she was doing her best to keep it at bay.  
  
"Nothing that could measure up to what's important to me, kohai," he hissed, leering down at her. "My entire company is based upon those cards."  
  
"And one day my paintings could earn me a living! I don't see your point!" Kiseki snapped back.  
  
"Your paintings?" he scoffed. "Have you sold any yet?"  
  
"No, because I'm not ready to part with them."  
  
"Not ready to part with them… what, are they some sort of magical diary you keep for yourself? Or are they just too terrible to show without embarrassing yourself?"  
  
"Shut up!" she yelled, her frustration reaching its peak. "I keep them because they are my memories! My whole life since I was seven years old! Someone as cold hearted as you could never understand that!"  
  
"I am cold hearted _because_ of my memories; don't you dare say that the past is something good to have. People like you make me sick; holding onto happiness they had before, rather than focusing upon how to survive in the present."  
  
"And how the hell am I supposed to survive with my life now with you following me around school, not letting me alone? Am I supposed to get over what you do to me in a matter of days?" She yanked up her sleeve to manifest the bruise she had gotten from him. "I go back to my memories to remind myself of what my life was like when people like you weren't in it!"  
  
Seto stared at the bruise for a moment, disguising his surprise quite well. He turned his eyes back onto her; she hadn't moved since she pulled up her sleeve, and she was panting slightly, her face flushed. "If you would just give up the card, kohai… that would have never happened."  
  
Kiseki let go of her jacket, staring at him in utter disbelief. At that point, her anger pushed through her barrier and she took a step forward, raising her hand to slap him hard across the face.  
  
The teen flinched a great deal as the sting rose to his skin, bringing him back instantly to his days with Gozaburo. He put a hand to it as he stared down at Kiseki; her eyes were nearly overflowing with tears as she glared up at him. "If you would just leave me out of your obsession… if you had just left me alone… if—if you had just asked me for it without frightening me beyond reason… if you had been _kind…_" She stopped, taking a few shaky breaths. "…none of this would have happened."  
  
With that, she pushed past him, back towards the school. Seto still stood with his hand upon his cheek, staring straight out in front of him, his eyes wide. The noisy sounds of students eating their lunches began to rise as his ears tuned into it, leaving his mind behind to wallow in itself. He couldn't come to grips with what had just happened, but Kiseki's words had driven home what he had never grasped.  
  
-----------------------------------  
  
Kiseki skipped out on her classes after lunch, instead choosing to sit, hunched against the side of the school building in the grass. Time merely passed as she slowly picked the grass around her, taking off little bits off each blade until it was completely gone before moving onto the next. A soft wind would blow by frequently, ruffling her hair and her clothes. Her mind was completely blank, though every now and then it would stray to Seto. The image of him after she had hit him was imprinted into her mind, and she wondered slightly why he stayed as quiet as he did. The more she thought about it, the more confused she became.  
  
_He just stood there, rather than… from the past few days he would have hurt me or something… yelled… Why didn't he?_ She wrapped her arms about her knees and rested her chin upon them, narrowing her eyes slightly ahead of her. _Then again… getting slapped isn't exactly the most pleasant thing to happen to someone… I acted just like that when Mama slapped me… but he deserved it! He seems like he'd be smart enough to stop crossing over the line… maybe he's so obsessed with getting it that he forgets about everything else… he's losing his mind over a stupid card… maybe he's becoming confused by it all…_ She curled up a little tighter, closing her eyes. _Idiot…_  
  
The rest of the afternoon passed by without incident, and when the bell rang, she raised her head to see Unishiwa emerge form the building while everyone went to cleaning duties. He walked to the middle of the courtyard, casting around everywhere almost a little frantically. She called out to him and he whipped around, his bag swinging around him.  
  
"Kiseki!" he came to her and kneeled down in the grass. "Where were you?"  
  
"I'm sorry, sensei… I got held up by something."  
  
"What was it?"  
  
She opened her mouth, looked slightly to the side, changing in mid-sentence. "Set—a student came to ask me about where I had been and I… had a hard time coming up with something to say."  
  
He narrowed his eyes. "Alright, Kiseki; there's something you've been keeping from me. I'd really like to know what; I might be able to help."  
  
Kiseki looked up at him as another wind blew by, blowing their hair over their faces slightly. She swallowed and slowly got up, bringing her bag over her shoulder. "I'll explain on the way home…" she murmured, walking to the gates.  
  
He hurriedly got up and followed her, looking slightly angry. As soon as they began walking down the street, a blue Mercedes slowly started making its way after them--Seto in the driver's seat.  
  
He had gone home immediately after lunch and sat down in his bedroom, warning his housekeepers that no one was to be let in until he said so; not even Mokuba could come in. Heavily sitting on the edge of his bed, he once again reached up to put a hand upon his cheek, Kiseki's voice echoing in his mind. _"If you had just left me alone… if you had been kind… if you had been kind…_ He focused in on the last one. _If you had been kind._ His eyes narrowed at the ground in a puzzled expression, his fingers slowly trailing down his face as he let his hand fall.  
  
_If I had been kind… if I had been kind what? We'd be friends? I'd be on the same level as Yugi and the others to her? If I had been kind… "None of this would have happened."_ He ran his hands through his hair, letting his forehead rest against his palms. _If she wasn't so attached to the damn thing… if she had given it to me in the first place… if I had been kind, she'd still have kept it…_ Another voice started to rise in his head.  
  
_Why did I go to speak to her? If I hadn't come up to her at lunch, she wouldn't have slapped me… I knew she didn't have the card, so why did I go to see her? __  
  
__I wanted to remind her to bring it. If I hadn't, she wouldn't have remembered to bring it on Monday._  
  
_If I hadn't, she wouldn't have slapped me._  
  
_She slapped me because she was afraid. She couldn't handle that I won't give up on getting that card from her._  
  
_Do I even know what the card is? I remembered the information that the runt recounted on the first day… but that's all… the mutt's sister wouldn't tell me anything… what if it's a weak card?_  
  
He looked up suddenly, staring at the wall ahead of him. _What if… what if the card isn't what I think it is? Do I even know if it's stronger than anything I have? I don't even know what it looks like for God's sake!__  
  
__If I had been kind… I could have at least seen it… and then what? If it was the legendary card that Pegasus was rumored to have created, I'd have done what I'm doing now… if it was a weak card…_  
  
His thoughts halted. As he looked at the bland white paint upon his wall, he interlocked his fingers and put his chin on them. _It can't be weak. As much as I loathe to say it, Yugi probably knows as much as I do about the cards, and if he thought that it was powerful… but he only got one glance at it; maybe he got the wrong idea…__  
  
__What would I do if in the end it were a weak card?_  
  
_I'd… I would… give it back? Tear it apart? If she finally gives it to me and I don't want it, I'll give it back and go on with my life. She can keep it if I don't want it. What would I say, though? "Here's your card, take it back." I can't imagine the look on her face after all I've done to get it from her._  
  
The image of her pulling up her sleeve appeared in his mind. _I bruised her arm…_ He held out a hand in front of him and stared at it. _I didn't have to… if I hadn't threatened her, that idiot Unishiwa wouldn't be putting his hands all over her to try and make her feel better…_ His hand clenched.  
  
_He shouldn't be doing that. He can't. He just can't. If he thinks that he can get away with it…_ He let his hand relax slightly. _If he thinks that… he's wrong. If she needs help, it should be from someone else. Not some pedophilic teacher… She could get hurt.__  
  
__Why the hell am I dwelling on that so much? It's not my damn business, and I've never cared about what anyone else was going through… why do I care about what happens to her?_  
  
_Because… because I want the card._  
  
Somehow, he wasn't convincing himself. _That's why… I want the card…_  
  
His eyes went wide as something slowly dawned on him. Something that had been waiting to manifest itself for the past few days. _I care about what happens to her… because… I care about her… I care about Kiseki… _  
  
His lips slowly opened in a shocked whisper into his empty room. "I… I love Kiseki…"  
  
Now, in his car, he was following her and Unishiwa to find the perfect time to get her away from him; to get her away before she was hurt by him. _He can't possibly understand how much he's affecting her,_ he thought, his hands gripping the steering wheel tightly. He noticed too late that they had gone into his apartment building, so, cursing at himself, he pulled into a parking space across the street from it, deciding to wait until they came back out. He would wait all night if he had to.  
  
Kiseki had been very slow in telling Unishiwa about Kaiba, but as he opened up the door and they came inside, he was just as enraged. "I _knew_ he had something to do with it. Why didn't you tell me?"  
  
"I… I didn't want you worrying so much about me, sensei… you've been so kind to me these past few days, and I thought that—" She stopped, putting a hand to her arm. "—that if you knew what Kaiba was doing to me, you'd go and do something drastic or… if you had done any more for me, I'd feel forever in debt for how much you've done."  
  
"I do this because I _want_ to, Kiseki," he said, putting his hands on her shoulders and looking her straight in the eyes. "I'm not doing it because I feel obligated as a teacher… I'm doing it as a friend. I don't expect anything back from you."  
  
She was about to respond when they heard a phone ring across the hall, and Unishiwa went to the door and finally closed it, drowning out the sound. "You should call your parents again, Kiseki," he said, turning back to her.  
  
She nodded, dropping her bag to the floor and going to the phone, picking it up and dialing. Ever since she started talking about Kaiba on the way home, she had remembered that she would need to make sure the card was still there. The ring tone sounded a few times before it picked up, Takai's voice coming out of it.  
  
"Hello?" She sounded utterly exhausted.  
  
Kiseki did not speak, merely holding the phone to her ear.  
  
"Hello?" her mother asked again.  
  
The girl took in a deep breath. "Is Dad there?"  
  
"_Kiseki_?" she nearly shouted.  
  
"I want to speak to Dad, Mama."  
  
"He's—he's not here, Kiseki," she replied, lowering her voice again. "Are you still safe?"  
  
Kiseki closed her eyes, her other hand grasping her skirt tightly. "Yes, Mama…" she said slowly. "I want you to check something for me."  
  
Her mother was silent for a moment. "Kiseki-kun… where—"  
  
"Mama, don't. Will you walk out on the balcony?"  
  
More silence, but Kiseki could hear soft footsteps and the sliding of a door.  
  
"There's a painting of a dragon on my easel. Is there a card in the little rack at the bottom?" she asked, almost in a statement.  
  
"Why are you asking me this?" her mother practically pleaded.  
  
"Please, Mama… just tell me that the card is still there."  
  
She could have sworn that she heard her mother sniff before responding. "…no, Kiseki-kun… there's no card there."  
  
"But—check again, Mama; it looks just like the painting." Kiseki's hand tightened even more on her skirt as butterflies started multiplying in her stomach.  
  
The sound of rummaging reached her ears. "I don't see it… if it was small… it might have blown off the balcony in last night's storm… why are you asking me to find it? Can't you come home?"  
  
Kiseki didn't respond, her eyes widened in shock. "It's not there?" she asked.  
  
"No, Kiseki! If you want to look for it some more, come home! Please!"  
  
The girl dropped the phone noisily to the floor, making Unishiwa jump, as he had been sitting a few feet away, watching her intently. He immediately reached to pick up the phone to speak to her mother.

-----------------------------------------------------

A little while later, Unishiwa and Kiseki were walking down the stairs of the apartment. He had convinced Kiseki to go home, and given her mother directions to get to his house as soon as her father came back. It had started to rain heavily, and Seto only noticed that the blurred light in front of the building was blocked twice as they passed in front of it, and he watched as an SUV drove up and stopped rather fast beside them, blocking them from view.  
  
The door to it closed and it drove off, leaving Unishiwa staring after it slightly, letting the rain slowly drench him. Seto looked at him for only a moment before turning on his car again to instead follow the car of Kiseki's parents.  
  
Inside their car, they were silent, but Kiseki could tell that her parents had been fighting on the way over. Both looked tense in their seats, and would occasionally shoot a small glance when the other wasn't looking. She felt awkward and wished for a moment that she was back with Unishiwa. She could see her father from the side, but not her mother, as she was in the passenger side of the back. "Um…" she murmured, trying to think of something to say. "I… I'm sorry I… ran off… I didn't mean to—"  
  
"You didn't mean to make us worry our asses off about you?" cut in her father angrily.  
  
"Korosu!" said her mother in the same tone. "How dare you talk to her that way!"  
  
"Who are you to talk? Do you see me reaching back to punch her?" he snarled. The car slightly skidded on the wet pavement and he turned his attention back to the road, growling about not being able to see anywhere past his fog lights.  
  
Her mother had straightened up. "I've told you how much I regret that; you can't just leave it be?" she said, tears welling up in her eyes.  
  
Kiseki remained quiet in the back seat, nearly crying herself at seeing her parents fighting about her. Korosu once again moved his eyes to his wife.  
  
"No! I can't! It's because of that regretful thing that our daughter ran away. She could have been kidnapped by someone!"  
  
"You think I don't know that?" her mother yelled back. "She was taken in by her teacher; we should be thankful for that!"  
  
"Oh yeah, so we'll just rely on luck to keep her safe; the next time she's in danger, I won't worry!"  
  
A honk interrupted them and Korosu whipped his head around to the bright lights approaching from his left.  
  
Behind them, Seto heard and saw the other car as well. He watched as Kiseki's car swerved slightly before the other smashed headlong into the left side with a sickening crash. The lights of the other car went out as they were crushed, but the SUV's stayed on, swaying out into the darkness as the car swiveled from the impact, finally coming to rest about ten feet away.  
  
Seto slammed on his brakes and stopped his car, staring in horror through his windshield. His hand blindly groped around for his cell phone and fumbled with it before picking it up and dialing 9-1-1. 


	13. Confessions

Hee… everyone seemed to find that cliffie interesting; good thing, too. Sadly, I must say that this will be the second to last chapter. I finished this last week and I'll be posting the final chapter next weekend (after my first week of school—eek!!). Well, there's really not much else to say, except, arigato again for the reviews you guys are giving and enjoy!

Chapter 13: Confessions

The bright lights of Domino Hospital shined out through the pouring rain, illuminating its white architecture. From within, the sounds of doctors and nurses talking to each other and patients lightly floated through the halls, though it was still relatively quiet. A girl still in her Domino High School uniform was sitting all alone in the waiting room, her arms wrapped around her legs, her wet hair hanging over her knees with her eyes shut. She was still slightly trembling, but her mind's defenses had already set in and kept any emotions from coming out.

The woman at the reception desk was doing late night paperwork, humming a slight tune to herself as she did so. Kiseki had not moved since her father was taken in to the emergency room some three hours earlier; her mother had come in a little while later to sit with him, sporting a broken arm from running into her car door. As far as Kiseki knew, both her parents were alive, but her father had taken most of the damage, seeing as how the car had collided with his door. She had been the furthest away from the impact point and only felt a little stiffness in her neck, which the doctors in the ambulance had deemed nothing to worry about. The status of the other driver was unknown to them.

Every now and then a doctor would walk by quietly, either making clear or muffled footsteps depending upon whether they had just come out of a surgery room. Another pair came from the elevator down the hall, and she calmly listened to them come into the waiting room, pause, and make their way towards her. The person sat beside her quietly, doing nothing more. She didn't acknowledge whoever it was, merely sighing to herself and hunching her shoulders slightly. After about a minute, the person put their hand on her back, softly rubbing it over a few times before letting it come to rest on her opposite shoulder, giving it a slight squeeze.

She felt a small wave of relief pass over her, thinking it was Unishiwa; she slowly sat up and turned her head towards the person. When her eyes opened, the first thing she saw was the KC logo. She stared at it for a moment, instantly feeling completely different. Shocked… yet a small jump in her stomach could have easily been a sort of joy. Her eyes moved from the lapel of the jacket to the person with his arm around her, and she nearly yelped at seeing Seto looking back at her, his hair also slightly wet and hanging over his face.

"What—what are you—" She couldn't get any words out, staring back and forth between him and the letters upon his jacket that she had come to idolize, not believing that they were in such close proximity to each other. Her mouth stayed open and she drew away from him; he released his grip and she put a hand behind her to keep her from falling completely onto the chair beside her.

"Are you alright, Kiseki?" he asked, his arm still slightly outstretched.

Her mind was buzzing with a million thoughts, and his question multiplied them by another million. "What?" she asked in disbelief.

"I saw the accident. Are you ok?" he repeated.

She shook her head slightly, her eyes and mouth still wide open. "I—what—you—" Her mind absolutely refused to put two words together. She swallowed, finally closing her mouth. "What are you doing here?"

He frowned slightly, starting to think that the accident had somehow damaged her head. "I saw the crash you just experienced. I was the one who called for the ambulance, Kiseki."

_Kiseki… he keeps calling me Kiseki… why? _"You… called for the ambulance? Why… Did you go home afterwards?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why did you wait to come here? Why are you here?" She felt rather foolish letting all of her questions come out at once, but she had no idea how she was supposed to feel.

He closed his eyes. "I was delayed by the police. The person who hit you had right of way, but they discovered that he was drunk and needed me to give an eyewitness account. I agreed to it at first, but they kept interrogating me… I was kept longer when they found out something else, but they wouldn't tell me what… then the people here couldn't tell me where you and your family were. I came because I wanted to see that you were not hurt."

She straightened up, furrowing her brow slightly at him. "…why?"

The question made Seto open up his eyes to look at the floor. He wanted to tell her so badly, but he worried that the shock of what he said would cause her even more trauma than she was already experiencing.

She stood up, looking down at him."You want the card, don't you?" she whispered.

He shook his head. "No… I don't."

She blinked. "What?"

"I don't want the card anymore, Kiseki."

"Why are you calling me Kiseki all of a sudden?"

He didn't answer that question, either, so she tried another route. "But… you were so… aggressive when you were trying to get it…"

Standing up as well to peer down at her, he looked at her with an attempt at a sort of gentle expression of seriousness. "I know… I was becoming obsessed with getting it… but I didn't know what I was doing. I had always stayed up late working in my office, but this past week… I've been working in my office trying to find out what it was—"

"Are you usually the only one in the big KC building when you work late?"

He was a little surprised at the question, but he nodded.

Kiseki could feel the threat of tears forming and the looked down and to the side rather fast, shutting her eyes. "Is your office at the very top?" she asked in a voice that trembled slightly.

"It is… what's wrong?" He slightly tilted his head.

She swallowed and opened her eyes again, blinking to let a few drops slowly make their way down her cheeks. She looked up at him again, having a somewhat difficult time breathing properly. "I… for the past week…" She sniffed. "I have been watching that building… and the office window at the top… I would—" She stopped, wondering slightly why she was telling him. "I would look to it, and… and it became something like an idol to me… I can't…" She folded her arms. "I can't believe that it was _you_ the whole time… working late because of something you were traumatizing me for… I guess crap like that never works out."

"…You would watch for me every night?" he asked.

"I would watch for you to help myself get over what you were doing to me at school," she said somewhat harshly, glaring up at him. "All of which is in vain now… the card blew away yesterday in the storm… I don't have it anymore."

He shook his head. "That's what I've been trying to tell you, Kiseki. I don't want that card now. I haven't wanted it for a while now… it just took me some time to figure out that my intentions weren't what I thought they were."

"What are you saying?" she asked again in a whisper.

"Kiseki…" he murmured, reaching out to take her hands in his. _"Ai shiteru."_

_5_She stared at him for moment, not recognizing the words that had left his mouth. "I… I don't know what that means," she said, shaking her head slightly, keeping her eyes fixed upon his.

Seto cast around in his mind, trying to remember back to his English lessons. "It means…" He vaguely remembered learning its counterpart in the language and spoke the words in his accented English. "_I love you…_ Ai shiteru, Kiseki…"

A silence passed over them as they stood, looking at each other, Seto still holding Kiseki's hands. Time seemed to slow down; Kiseki's mind had completely shut off, leaving her helpless to cope with the simple phrase, not knowing what to say or do. "I….I…"

"Kiseki!"

Both of the students jumped a great deal and whirled around to see Unishiwa coming towards them; Seto instinctively let go of Kiseki's hands. The teacher stopped a few feet away from them, glaring at him. "Get away from her," he growled.

The blue-eyed teen looked back at Unishiwa for a moment, not reacting at all. Without another glance at Kiseki, he walked past Unishiwa to the elevator, getting on and disappearing. She still stood looking after him, her hands coming up to her chest. Unishiwa came to her and led her back to the chairs, sitting them down.

"Are you alright?" he asked her, turning her face to him.

Looking back at him, her mind slowly started coming back. She shook her head.

"Does it have something to do with Kaiba?" he asked somewhat angrily.

"It does… but—"

"What did he do?" he cut in. She jumped, and he shook his head. "I'm sorry…"

"He—he just—" She sat back in her chair heavily, staring at the ground. "I don't know what he did, sensei… I'm confused…"

Unishiwa decided that it would be best to not pry too much, and instead put a hand on her shoulder. "The doctors looked at you, right?"

She nodded. "My parents… my mom broke her arm and… I don't know how my dad is, but I know he's going to live…"

He looked slightly relieved and sat back in his chair also. "Thank God… I was watching the news and recognized your car… the driver of the car that hit you was killed, did you know that?"

Her head dropped again to rest on her knees. "No… I didn't…" she whispered. "Sensei…"

"Hm?" He sat forward slightly.

"Why is all of this happening to me?"

The question was practically dripping with agony; he could hardly bear it. "I don't know, Kiseki… the most we can do now is to just bear it. It's the tragedies in lives that make us grow stronger." He closed his eyes, quoting Confucius. "Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but rising every time we fall."

Kiseki gave a quiet laugh. "That sucks."

"Life sucks, Kiseki. It's how we react to it that matters." He gently took her hand in his and she sat up to look at him again.

"You know…" she said. "You don't have to sit here with me. The words aren't helping me with what I've had to endure."

"I know… that's why I'm choosing to comfort you in the only other way I know how." He brought her into a soft embrace much like the one he had given her the first night in his apartment.

She placed her arms about him as well, her chin upon his shoulder as she stared out at the waiting room behind him. He slowly rocked her from side to side, lightly stroking her hair again. "You are much too intelligent and beautiful to even think about giving up on life," he whispered to her.

"Sensei?" She sat up, letting go of him.

He looked her straight in the eyes. "I mean that, Kiseki. I've seen you as a woman ever since we first met. No matter how much I tried, I couldn't think of you as just a student."

"Are you… saying that…"

"I don't mean to put any more of a burden on you than you already have, Kiseki; I really don't. I just wanted you to know that you are very precious… to someone other than your parents… I don't want you to sink into something you can't pull yourself out of."

She merely sat, looking at him as his words sank into her. She took in a deep breath, turning away slightly. "I… I would like to be alone, sensei… please excuse me." She stood up slowly and walked down the hall, leaving him behind in the waiting room. At the edge of the building she found an empty hospital room and closed the door behind her, shutting out all the light except for that which was shining in through the window.

Kiseki leaned on the windowsill, staring out through the rain in the now darkened sky. There was nothing to see as the noisy drops hit the window, and she buried her head in her arms as she began to quietly sob. Her emotional barrier had begun to loosen, and she could no longer hold in everything she was feeling from the past few hours. As her sleeves dampened, her mind replayed everything that had been upsetting her, forcing her to push out whatever she felt.

She cried for nearly twenty minutes before she quieted herself, sitting up and wiping her sleeve over her face. Looking out the window again, she still felt despair, and her body was weak. She felt like giving up. To just put up with whatever came her way. _If I keep myself sad like this… everything won't seem as terrible when it happens… that's it… if I don't get happy… if I never feel happy, things won't be so hard for me—_

Her thoughts cut off immediately when she saw something in the distance. A small speck of colour had flicked on as she looked out into the downpour, and she paused in her breathing as she realised what it was. Her already red eyes became wet again as her mouth opened slightly, her lips turning up to form a small smile.

Seto stood with his hand upon the windows covering the wall of his office, his other still outstretched next to the light switch as he stared out into the night. His arms dropped limply to his sides and he gazed out for a few more minutes before leaning his back heavily against the windows, sliding down to the floor, the empty KC building quietly creaking to itself.


	14. Hello and Goodbye

Moshi moshi, everyone! Wow, I got a lot of reviews for that last chapter, so since I'm all hyped up and it's nighttime, I'll respond to all of them! (if you are too eager then go right on ahead and scroll down past them to read chapter 14 =])

**Tyrantyoshi- **woot! I'm happy this romance story has caught your interest =] I hope you'll like the last chapter! (_love_ your penname, by the by; 'tis very kawaii)

**Kristen- **:patpat: I'm sorry this story is ending as well, but chin up! Now that this is the last chapter, I'll be able to start work on Darker Shades Than Black and the Darkness Within Me! ****

**Arabella Silverbell- **Arigato so much for the compliment =] it makes me feel so great when I hear things like that! (and I probably mentioned this before but your penname is very pretty!) ****

**Steph- **Oooooo….. floating in your chair eh? Heh, I guess from my point of view that chapter was just a complicated chapter; I had no idea it had that sort of effect! Arigato for the semi-poetic review!

**Peneia Teke- **I started laughing when I read your review; Unishiwa really looks like a professor that you had? Very odd indeed… and I appreciate the correction about Jonouchi/ Shizuka; as soon as I read your first review I went to look on Absolute Anime and you were right! Once I get around to it I'll repost the chapters with that error.

**Mari- **Woo! :jumps in the air: I'm an achiever! :clears throat: I kinda knew that Kiseki would seem Mary-Sue-ish, mainly because she is someone that I sort of thought up when I was thinking about if I ever moved somewhere out of state… I'd be just like her just for the randomness of it. Though I'm glad that the Sue-ness doesn't deter you from liking it!

**Kikoken- **Jeez, that's not the first time you made me break out into a big, stupid grin with one of your reviews =] I really appreciate that you like it so much. I read "The Possession" in two afternoons because it was so good; arigato for the recommendation! 'tis on my favourites now. To quote from Lanse: ::SSSssssssssss…….:: (attempts to deflate growing head)

**Goddesskali- **I'm glad you've enjoyed the story thus far! And the same goes for me; I'd be pretty freaked out if I found out my teacher liked me (well, more so if all the other stuff was added in, too).

**Dark-Light39- **I hope you had fun waiting! :evil grin: Here's the next chapter; don't fall out of your chair/bed when you read! You could do some major posterior damage and then you'd sue me! :throws some pillows out: There! Happy landings!

**ChaosMagicianGirl- **Seems my friend Jon isn't the only one who likes Kiseki a lot =] I'm happy you've grown attached to the OCs in here! I'll be sure to go take a look at your story and review it once I'm done posting this!

**Hikari, Lady of Light- **Another reviewer who thinks highly of Mary-sue-ish Kiseki! YEAH! :punches the air: I am SO good! :pauses at the sound of crickets: … Well! I hope that Unishiwa's pedophilic-ness doesn't make you not like him! He's very young so it's not too bad! ****

**GoddessoftheWaters- **Alright! Here's the last chapter! I didn't know the end of the last chapter was that big of a cliffhanger! :makes shooing movement: Go read and arigato for the review!

**To everyone else **Anyone who didn't review this chapter, I still love you all! :tosses Seto plushies to everyone: I hope you guys like this last chapter; 'tis one of my favourites second to chapter 13. Arigato gozaimasu for reading!!!!!!

Chapter 14: Hello and Goodbye

"Kiseki-kun… Kiseki-kun!"

The girl grunted at being touched on the shoulder, a soft voice in her ear. She eased open her eyes to see her mother in front of her, her father in a wheelchair beside her. "Daddy!" She sat up and groaned slightly, rubbing her side. "Gods… I should have slept on the floor…" she grumbled, looking down at the chairs she had been using. She turned her eyes to her father. "How are you, Daddy?"

"I'm fine now, sweetie," he said, smiling. "I broke an arm just like Mom did, but I also had some back trauma… which means—" He stopped slightly when her mother looked at him. "—which means that I'll be staying in bed for a while."

"How long?"

"Oh, I don't know. We'll just have to wait."

Kiseki smiled, getting up and stretching. "Then I suppose we'll want to walk home, considering we don't have a car anymore?"

"Oh heavens no," Takai said. "We're taking a bus; we're too far away to be walking home."

"Well, are we waiting for anything?"

"I don't think so, Kiseki."

"Let's go then!" She got behind her father's wheelchair and started to push it. He laughed.

"You're really hyped up, Kiseki; did you bribe one of the doctors to give you endorphins?"

"No, Daddy… let's just say that last night I had a chance to get my emotions out… I feel much better than I did when I was waiting in here yesterday."

When they left the hospital, they had some trouble getting to a cab that had enough patience to let them slowly and carefully move her father from his chair to the seat of the car, but they managed. As her mother and father talked, Kiseki let her mind wander onto what she had heard from Seto and Unishiwa. _I wonder if that was why sensei was helping me so much… no, he was sincere when he said he was doing it as a friend… still… _She looked down at her knees. _And… Seto… gods, where the hell did that come from? He said that he was obsessed for the wrong reason… and… _The image of the single office window lighting up faded into her thoughts.

___He went to his office right after he left… I wonder… I wonder if he knew that I would need help… maybe… he really meant what he said. _

Her mind dwelled on him all the way home, and once they had arrived back in their apartment, she excused herself to the balcony. Her painting was still in tact, but as her mother had said, the card was nowhere to be found. Looking over the balcony at the KC building for a moment, she sat down in front of her easel, and began to finish up the dragon from memory.

She worked diligently all day, painting every last detail to the best of her ability. The dragon began to magnificently stand out of the painting as she added shadows and a background to it, her face becoming expressionless as she focused in on it. It took her a moment before she realised that someone was calling her name.

Casting around, she stood up, looked over the balcony, and was surprised to see Seto standing below it. He beckoned her down with his hand, and she nodded, sliding open the patio door and telling her parents she'd be back soon. She went down the stairs and came out, halting in front of him with her hands clasped slightly in front of her.

"I heard you had come home… are your parents alright?"

She nodded.

"Good to know." He paused. "I just came by to… to wish you a happy birthday, Kiseki."

She blinked, taken aback. "My birthday?"

"You're 16 today," he said, smiling slightly down at her.

"Wow…" she murmured, looking down at the pavement sheepishly. "I guess I got so caught up in everything that's happened that I forgot all about it…"

"Well, that's mostly my fault." He brought his hands to the back of his neck. "I wanted to give you something…"

"Oh no, Kaiba, you don't—"

"I want to," he interrupted softly. He undid the clasp of whatever it was and pulled it off from underneath his shirt. It was a small silver chain with a miniature Blue-Eyes White Dragon dangling off of it, sparkling in the sun. "I have three of these… one for each of my beloved dragons… I gave one to my little brother and kept two for myself… I never thought I would find anyone that I'd want to give it to, but…" He stepped forward, putting it around her neck and fastening it.

Kiseki looked down at it and picked up the little charm in her hand, gazing at it. "It's beautiful…" She was just about to thank him when she heard her mother's voice call for her from above.

"Kiseki-kun!"

"Yes Mama!" she called back, looking up.

"We need to talk about something; will you come back inside?"

"Oh—sure." She looked back at Seto; he gave a small bow of his head and turned to go. "Wait!" Her hand shot out and got a hold on his shirt sleeve. He stopped and looked down at her with a mildly puzzled expression. She gently grasped the charm in her other hand, looking imploringly up at him. "Thank you…"

He smiled again, Kiseki noticing how much handsomer he became when he wasn't frowning. "I'm glad you like it."

Kiseki took a step forward and stood on her tiptoes to throw her arms about his neck, making him hunch over slightly. He recovered, however, and wound his arms around her, holding her to him tightly and basking in her warmth. "Seto…" she whispered into his ear. "Thank you for being there last night… not just for being at the hospital… thank you for… for becoming my idol again… you have no idea how much I needed to see that tiny light in the distance…"

She let go slightly to look into his eyes. "You saved me last night, Seto…"

Seto's mouth slightly opened as he looked back at her; the look on her face was like that which was in his dream of her, but there was something there that wasn't before. It was adoration. They both slowly closed their eyes and leaned into each other, their grips gently tightening.

Their lips met softly, both coming to realise how much they had been yearning for this moment. They did nothing more but hold each other with their lips joined, but the energy flowing out of them could have lit up a city. Kiseki's mother called for her again, and she slowly broke away from him, a small smile upon her face. They separated and turned away, Kiseki pausing slightly at the door to the apartments to watch him walk down the street. However, her happiness was short-lived as soon as she set foot in her apartment and saw boxes.

Kiseki slowly closed the door behind her, gazing around. She hadn't noticed any on her way out, but now they were moved into the small living room, plain as day. "Mama?" she said softly, looking around for her.

"In here, Kiseki." Her mother's voice drifted out from the bedroom and the girl went into it, a great feeling of foreboding rising in her stomach. Her parents were sitting on the bed, her father with his back in a brace, leaning against the headboard. "Sit down."

She did so on the floor and gazed up at her parents. "Why are you guys packing?"

"Kiseki," Korosu began, taking in a deep breath. "We're going back to America."

Silence. It settled upon the room, Kiseki staring at him with wide eyes. "…America? …why?"

He sighed. "The reason we left from the hospital so soon was because my company doesn't give me coverage here… and we couldn't afford to spend any more money on our stay there. They gave me this brace and told me that I should try to see a doctor in the US, where we can use our health insurance to pay for it. They said that I should go as soon as possible, and your mother and I bought plane tickets." He stopped, looking saddened at the look on his daughter's face. "We're leaving tomorrow morning."

Kiseki stared at him with her mouth open, completely paralyzed with shock. She suddenly stood up and ran to the balcony to lean over it, staring down the street.

"Seto!" she shouted, her voice echoing off the buildings. She didn't know what she was expecting, but she didn't hear any response back, nor did she see him come running back to her. The empty street remained as it was, as did she, staring off at the last point she had seen him, a light wind blowing by.

* * *

The next morning she and her family were in a taxi with their bags in the trunk. The day before they had made a trip to Domino High to return the two uniforms she had; Kiseki had written a long letter to Unishiwa and left it with them as well. There were bags underneath her eyes, as she had stayed up late writing it, also painting the rest of the dragon. She couldn't sleep at all, so she worked on fine tuning everything on the painting;her parents walked in on her sitting in the living room at about 3 in the morning, leafing through some kanji dictionaries with an address written on a piece of paper beside her.

"Mama, can we please stop at the post office?" Kiseki asked.

"Kiseki, we already stopped there yesterday to send our things ahead; did you forget something?" her mother asked disbelievingly.

Kiseki shook her head. "I just wasn't ready to pack it away. Please Mama, I won't take long."

Takai sighed and told the driver where to go. Once they stopped, Kiseki opened the trunk and pulled out something wrapped in brown paper and dashed inside with it. She put the thing on the counter, reaching into her pocket for the address she had written down the night before and handing it to the person. "Please send this as fast as you can; it's very important," she said, bowing low to him and handing him some money. He looked at the address and recognized it as one that always received urgent mail, and he knew how to get it there within a matter of hours. He smiled and nodded, carefully taking it to the back.

On the plane, Kiseki gazed out the window, one hand clasped around the trinket around her neck, silent tears falling down her face.

Seto, meanwhile, was walking down the street towards Kiseki's house, humming slightly to himself. He could feel his excitement rising as he saw the apartment building and quickened his pace. His smile diminished when he looked up on her balcony and didn't see anything there. He gave a few calls up to it, but, not getting any response, decided to try buzzing them.

No answer came from the little box and he got worried, next buzzing the landlord. He let Seto in, and was surprised when the teen demanded he be allowed to go upstairs to the Akai residence.

"There's no one in that apartment now, young man," he said, shaking his head.

Seto stared at him in utter disbelief. "What?"

The landlord nodded. "I believe they told me that they had an accident and needed to go back to America to get the man's back fixed. Had to leave right away."

"No! They can't have!" yelled Seto, scaring the man slightly. He backed up and ran out of the apartment building, to where he didn't know. His mind was abuzz with all sorts of thoughts; half of him wanted to run to the airport and jump in front of the plane to keep her in Japan. He gradually slowed down his pace as he came to grips that he might never see her again.

_They would have no reason to leave long before their plane takes off… she's probably on it by now… Kiseki!_

He turned to the building next to him and slammed a fist into it, cracking a few of his knuckles loudly. He stood with his arm outstretched, shutting his eyes to fight back something he had not felt since he was a child. A warm feeling came from behind his blue eyes, and he felt a single angry tear slowly emerge. His cell phone began to ring, and he snatched it up, flipping it open.

"What is it?" he nearly shouted.

"Kaiba-sama," came a voice from the other end. "You have a package waiting for you at your office."

"You called just to tell me that?" he hissed.

"Well sir, it's rather large; its return address isn't from anywhere that KaibaCorp has ever shipped or received. We need to know if we should send it back."

Kaiba's eyes went wide. "Don't send it back! Leave it in my office!" He started to run again and did not stop until he had reached the KC building. The employees stared at him as he rushed past, jamming a finger into the elevator button rather hard. On the way up, he caught his breath, a hand over his chest.

Once inside his office, he cast around for a moment before seeing the package lying to the side. He went to it, a hushed air about him as he knelt down and gazed at the address in the top left corner. _Akai Kiseki…_

He pulled off the wrapping and gasped out into the empty office. His arm reached forward to trail his fingers over the surface of the painting, gazing at it in absolute wonder. At the head of it, written in kanji, was "Kodoku Doragon." Seto looked over its magnificence on his hands and knees, his eyes looking at every part of the creature in awe. He did not move for nearly ten minutes, and when he was slightly over his amazement, he lifted it up to look at the back and pull the rest of the paper off. A small blotch of black paint caught his eye right before he turned it over again.

He leaned forward, squinting at the other kanji letters upon it, his hands tightening upon the frame.

_Ai shiteru, Seto._

* * *

And so marks the end of this fic; I hope it wasn't too much of a dampener on those of you who were hoping for a happy ending :sniff: but I've had this in my head ever since I started and there was no way I would stray off of it :smile:. If you feel like flaming or yelling :points a finger: you do it! I'll take any reviews you wanna give! And if you want to yell at me some more, feel free to email me!! :waves: Sayonara everybody!!


	15. When Feelings Stir

_"Aishiteru… Seto."_

Those words… those horrendous words. They left Seto Kaiba with nothing. He wondered how the hell she thought that would be a good parting gift, because all it did was make him more pissed off that she wasn't there. As he sat in his room at his desk, he repeated the words to himself incredulously. She was gone; she's gone forever.

It had now been three months since she had left. Yet he was still thinking of her, like she had left yesterday. Mokuba had gotten fed up with him weeks ago and actually made some friends to have ice cream with every night. Why couldn't he move on? He had work to do!

"Kiseki…" he murmured her name to himself for the thousandth time. It means "miracle"... some hellish miracle _she_ was. He slammed his fist upon the table. He had to stop this. Something had to be done to take care of the turmoil within his ice-cold barriers. Thinking about her didn't work, nor did the opposite, as his mind would scream "Don't think about her" and he'd picture her in his mind. If not being able to see her was hell either way… then… He clenched his fists, biting his lip.

That was it. It was so simple, but... He shut his eyes and thought of the girl that had turned his world upside down and thrown it away. Could he really...? A few seconds' more thought and he made up his mind with a pounding heart. As he stood up and walked over to his closet, he pulled out a suitcase.

_"Aishiteru, Seto…"_ No way in hell was he going to let that be the last of it.

Coming soon… the much anticipated sequel to Kiseki—

_**The Turmoil of Love**_


End file.
